Australian budget on track

The Department of Finance has updated the Australian budget financial flows and the forecasts remain on track for the time being:

Australian Government General Government Sector Monthly Financial Statements July and August 2014

Key Points

• The underlying cash balance for the 2014-15 financial year to 31 August 2014 was a deficit of $12,327 million.
• The fiscal balance for the 2014-15 financial year to 31 August 2014 was a deficit of
  $9,631 million.

AGGREGATES	ACTUAL 2014-2015 July $m	ACTUAL 2014-2015 August $m	ACTUAL 2014-2015 YTD August $m	Budget Profile 2014-2015 YTD August $m	BUDGET ESTIMATE* Full Year $m
Revenue	34,640	26,712	61,351	60,521	391,348
Expenses	37,169	33,821	70,990	71,370	414,845
Net operating balance	-2,530	-7,109	-9,639	-10,849	-23,497
Net capital investment	-124	116	-7	279	2,359
Fiscal balance	-2,406	-7,225	-9,631	-11,128	-25,855
Receipts(a)	34,049	26,351	60,400	60,107	385,778
Payments(b)	40,028	31,878	71,906	72,009	412,484
Net Future Fund earnings	455	366	821	644	3,068
Underlying cash balance(c)	-6,435	-5,893	-12,327	-12,546	-29,773
Headline cash balance	-6,936	-6,396	-13,332	-12,778	-33,524
Total assets	398,038	400,032	414,620
Total liabilities	656,877	668,896	626,631
Net worth(d)	-258,838	-268,864	-212,010
Net debt(e)	208,149	217,550	226,388

*As published in the 2014-15 Budget.
(a) Cash receipts for operating activities and sales of non-financial assets.
(b) Cash payments for operating activities, purchases of non-financial assets and net acquisition of assets under finance leases.
(c) Excludes net Future Fund earnings. Consistent with Budget documents, the net adjustment for the Future Fund is shown separately.
(d) Net worth is calculated as total assets minus total liabilities.
(e) Net debt equals the sum of deposits held, government securities, loans and other borrowing, minus the sum of cash and deposits, advances paid, and investments, loans and placements.

Care needs to be taken when comparing monthly or cumulative data across years and to full-year estimates as revenues and expenses vary from month to month.

FISCAL OUTCOMES

Underlying Cash Balance

The underlying cash balance for the year to 31 August 2014 was a deficit of $12,327 million, compared to the Budget profile deficit of $12,546 million. The difference of $219 million relates to higher than expected receipts and lower than expected cash payments.

Fiscal Balance

The fiscal balance for the year to 31 August 2014 was a deficit of $9,631 million, compared to the Budget profile deficit of $11,128 million. The difference of $1,497 million is largely due to higher than expected revenue and slightly lower than forecast expenses.

• Revenues
  Total revenue was $831 million higher than the Budget profile, primarily due to higher than expected taxation revenue and dividend income.
• Expenses
  Total expenses were $380 million lower than the Budget profile, due to lower than expected supply of goods and services and grants expenses, partially offset by higher personal benefits.

Assets and Liabilities

The net worth of the Australian Government general government sector is a negative net asset position of $268,864 million as at 31 August 2014. The net debt of the Australian Government general government sector is $217,550 million as at 31 August 2014. Net financial liabilities of the Australian Government general government sector are $420,917 million as at 31 August 2014.

The heavy blows to revenue will come when mining profit downgrades are announced.