Bulletin: Australian Budget Surplus Remains On Track

MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) April 2, 2019--S&P Global Ratings said today that its credit rating on Australia (AAA/Stable/A-1+) reflects its expectation that the general government, including state and local governments, will return to surplus by the early 2020s. When we revised our rating outlook in September 2018 based on a return to fiscal surplus, there was significant market uncertainty around Australia's political and future fiscal position. The federal budget released today supports our view that the government is on track to return to surplus. The central government will achieve stronger fiscal outcomes than we anticipated in the near term because of robust commodity prices and terms of trade. This has helped to deliver higher revenue growth. At the same time,

...MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) April 2, 2019--S&P Global Ratings said today that its credit rating on Australia (###/Stable/A-1+) reflects its expectation that the general government, including state and local governments, will return to surplus by the early 2020s. When we revised our rating outlook in September 2018 based on a return to fiscal surplus, there was significant market uncertainty around Australia's political and future fiscal position. The federal budget released today supports our view that the government is on track to return to surplus. The central government will achieve stronger fiscal outcomes than we anticipated in the near term because of robust commodity prices and terms of trade. This has helped to deliver higher revenue growth. At the same time, better labor market conditions have lowered expenditure outflows compared with previous budgets. These stronger outcomes have helped to fund new policy announcements in today's budget. For further information, see our latest...

Bulletin