Australia: Ambitious budget - ANZ

In view of the analysts at ANZ, Australian budget is an ambitious one that looks to change the game on infrastructure and deliver some measures around fairness while still looking to achieve a reasonably credible path back to surplus.

Key Quotes

“It is not without risk, not least in its reliance on increased revenue to close the gap with spending, and continued growth in gross debt outstanding.”

“The Government has found money for infrastructure, removed AUD13bn of “zombie” policy measures and tinkered with housing affordability and still returned to an underlying cash surplus by 2020-21. It has achieved this essentially by a combination of a AUD6.3bn “major bank levy”, a AUD8.2bn lift in the Medicare levy, taking on more debt and relying on a return to trend economic growth.”