PM not relying on commodities for budget
Marnie Banger
Published: Friday, 28 June 2019 2:54 PM
Strong commodity prices helped the government edge close to balancing the budget last month. Credit: AAP
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists he is not taking strong commodity prices for granted after they helped the government edge close to balancing the budget last month.
The federal government's latest monthly financial statements show it had a deficit of $115 million for the 11 months to May.
Mr Morrison said it was important not to read too much into the figures, as the coalition is making "considerable payments" in June.
"We have just concluded two agreements on the NDIS with Victoria and with Queensland," he told reporters at the G20 summit in Osaka.
"Queensland has only been arrived at in the last 24 hours and that involves payments in the June month, so I don't think we should over-read into those figures today."
The Department of Finance figures show the government's tiny deficit in the 11 months to May is better than the $2.4 billion deficit forecast for the period.
Over the timeframe, the government raked in $1.4 billion more than expected in tax revenue and shelled out $1.7 billion less in payments.
Mr Morrison said more people finding work has been key to the improvements.
"We have been creating a thousand jobs a day which is people actually paying taxes rather than receiving welfare payments," he said.
Commodity prices have also buoyed the situation, he acknowledged, but the leader stressed the government isn't assuming they'll always be there.
"No doubt, there has been an assistance at the margin that has come with where commodity prices are at and obviously for iron ore being quite strong," he said.
"That is not something I am going to complain about, but it also means you can't take any of this for granted.
"Yes, I welcome that, but at the same time, the long-term position of the budget is going to be supported by the economic policies that we have put in place and will continue to put in place."
CommSec has drawn on its own full-year calculations to find the budget's deficit was at $148 million for the 12 months to May, or less than 0.1 per cent of GDP.
That comes after it had been in surplus in the 12 months to March, by their calculations, by $1.5 billion and in deficit by $33 million in the year to April.
Latest in Politics
6:29 PM The man who will become the 46th president of the United States
6:28 PM Pompeo a 'lying, cheating clown': China
6:02 PM Gaga, J. Lo headline Biden inauguration
5:16 PM EU hails 'new dawn' of Biden inauguration
4:59 PM Woman, 20, falls 10 floors to her death from unit trying to escape rape by rental agent