The federal government has warned that injecting too much money into the economy will put further pressure on inflation and interest rates, as it plays down expectations over the extent of cost-of-living relief to be provided in the March 29 budget.

Assuring that there would be something to take the edge off record-high petrol prices, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham also said the budget was in significant deficit “so it’s not like there’s lots of extra cash that can be splashed around”.