Australian gov't confirms 2nd consecutive budget surplus

CANBERRA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has confirmed a second consecutive federal budget surplus for the first time in over 15 years.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday said that the federal budget for 2024-25, which he will hand down on Tuesday night, will reveal a surplus of 9.3 billion Australian dollars (6.1 billion U.S. dollars) for the current 2023-24 financial year.

It is the first time Australia has recorded back-to-back budget surpluses since 2007-08 -- prior to the global financial crisis -- after a final surplus of 22.1 billion Australian dollars in 2022-23.

The surplus marks a significant turnaround from the 13.9 billion Australian dollars deficit projected in the previous budget in May 2023. The forecast deficit was revised down to 1.1 billion Australian dollars in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook in December 2023.

Chalmers said the second surplus was a powerful demonstration of the governing Labor Party's responsible economic management.

"The forecasted surplus has come on top, not at the expense, of helping those doing it tough. The budget will ease cost-of-living pressures, not add to them, and incentivize investment in a Future Made in Australia," he said in a statement.

However, deficits in the next three years are now projected to be higher than forecast in December due to what Chalmers described as unavoidable spending.

In December, the Treasury forecast deficits of 18.8 billion Australian dollars in 2024-25, 35.1 billion Australian dollars in 2025-26, and 19.5 billion Australian dollars in 2026-27. 

（Editor:Wang Su）