Budget surplus now expected to double to $18.2bn this year, Australian government says | Australian politics

The Albanese government says it is on track to record a surplus for the current fiscal year twice as large as predicted in the May budget.

In the 11 months to the end of May, the underlying surplus was on course to reach $18.2bn for the fiscal year, almost as large as the $22.1bn surplus recorded in 2022-23, according to the government’s updated finances.

Last month’s budget estimated this year’s surplus would be $9.3bn. The revision is due in part to earlier than anticipated payment of corporate taxes that helped lift revenue by about $2bn. Expenses were about $1.6bn smaller than projected.

The first back-to-back federal surpluses since the 2007-08 year were not expected to extend into a third year. The budget predicted it would swing to a deficit of $28.3bn in 2024-25.

The twin surpluses were “the right thing for our economy, for interest costs in the budget” and a buffer against global economic headwinds, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, told a Citi economic function in Sydney on Friday.

Net debt had been expected to reach almost half a trillion dollars at $499.9bn by the end of June. After the update, that debt load is expected to reach $486.1bn by then.

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