MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 15, 2014--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its unsolicited ratings and outlook on the Commonwealth of Australia (AAA/Stable/A-1+) are not immediately affected by the government's mid-year budget update. The Commonwealth government's mid-year fiscal update, released today provides, in particular, greater visibility on the budget impact of the sharp falls in the prices of Australia's key export commodities over recent months. While ongoing price falls were expected due to rising Australian and global supply capacity, these falls have been greater than were assumed in the government's May 2014 budget. The government now expects the budget result for fiscal year 2015 to be around 0.7% of GDP weaker than projected in the May 2014 budget,
