The rosy picture painted by the amazing short-term turnaround in the government’s fiscal fortunes can’t hide the slew of structural issues in public finances.
On Tuesday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will present his second budget.
It will detail an amazing turnaround in the federal government’s budget fortunes – forecasting surplus (or next to) in both the current and budget year. Then only small deficits – perhaps around 1 per cent of GDP over the forwards. Not bad after 15 years of persistent deficits, a global pandemic and recent financial market/banking ructions.
