From COMMSEC, the Department of Finance and Deregulation release the Government Financial Statements last week:
The underlying budget deficit for the twelve months to February 2014 stood at $25,464 million, just 1.6 per cent of GDP. The government projects a deficit of $46,989 million in 2013/14. In February 2014 the monthly surplus was $6,903 million – a record for a February month.
Smoothed revenues (year to February) were up 3.8 per cent on a year ago, down on the 5.0 per cent average annual growth over the past year. Smoothed expenses grew by 3.8 per cent over the same period, slightly above the 2.7 per cent average annual growth over the past year.
The Government noted: “The underlying cash balance for the year to 28 February 2014 was a deficit of $30,277 million, compared to the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) profile deficit of $33,066 million. The difference of $2,789 million relates to lower than expected cash payments and higher than expected cash receipts, excluding net Future Fund earnings.”
Receipts from the Goods and Services Tax stood at a record $52,853 million in the year to February 2014, up 7.4 per cent on a year ago and the strongest annual growth in three years. In the Mid-Year review the government projected GST revenues of $52,680 million for 2013/14. GST receipts of $37,059 million in the eight months to February were above the “MYEFO profile” of $36,826 million.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
