Australia plans surplus for 2012
By Rod McGuirk |
May 12, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AUSTRALIA plans to sidestep the developed world's deepening quagmire of sovereign debt by returning its budget to surplus in three years, the government announced yesterday in an economic blueprint aimed at securing votes at a looming election.
The budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is the Labor Party government's third and last before Prime Minister Kevin Rude seeks a second three-year term in power with elections due late this year.
The budget's chief architect, Treasurer Wayne Swan, said the budget would return to a slim A$1 billion (US$901 million) surplus in the 2012-13 fiscal year - three years earlier than the government forecast a year ago.
Net debt would be totally repaid in 2018-19 - also three years ahead of schedule - after peaking at A$91 billion, or 6.1 percent of gross domestic product, in 2011-12.
Billions of dollars of stimulus spending helped Australia avoid recession during the global financial crisis but also forced the government to borrow. Even so, Australia's debt remains extremely low by the standards of other developed economies.
Swan told Parliament the balanced budget would be achieved "ahead of any of the major advanced economies."
The strategy blunts the opposition Liberal Party's portrayal of the government as reckless spenders who were burdening future generations with mounting debt.
But the new blueprint for Australia's A$1.2 trillion economy hinges on government plans announced earlier this month to cash in on booming profits in the mining industry.
A 40 percent so-called Resource Super Profits Tax would be introduced in July 2012 and raise an anticipated A$9 billion in additional revenue a year from big mining companies that have benefited from Chinese and Indian industrial demand for minerals and energy.
The budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is the Labor Party government's third and last before Prime Minister Kevin Rude seeks a second three-year term in power with elections due late this year.
The budget's chief architect, Treasurer Wayne Swan, said the budget would return to a slim A$1 billion (US$901 million) surplus in the 2012-13 fiscal year - three years earlier than the government forecast a year ago.
Net debt would be totally repaid in 2018-19 - also three years ahead of schedule - after peaking at A$91 billion, or 6.1 percent of gross domestic product, in 2011-12.
Billions of dollars of stimulus spending helped Australia avoid recession during the global financial crisis but also forced the government to borrow. Even so, Australia's debt remains extremely low by the standards of other developed economies.
Swan told Parliament the balanced budget would be achieved "ahead of any of the major advanced economies."
The strategy blunts the opposition Liberal Party's portrayal of the government as reckless spenders who were burdening future generations with mounting debt.
But the new blueprint for Australia's A$1.2 trillion economy hinges on government plans announced earlier this month to cash in on booming profits in the mining industry.
A 40 percent so-called Resource Super Profits Tax would be introduced in July 2012 and raise an anticipated A$9 billion in additional revenue a year from big mining companies that have benefited from Chinese and Indian industrial demand for minerals and energy.
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