Figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that Australian government debt has risen faster than most other developed nations, increasing from 16.7% of GDP to an expected 41.7% this year – a jump of 25 percentage points. From The Australian:
The IMF report comes as Scott Morrison prepares to unveil next month’s budget, which will recycle improved company tax flows into personal income tax cuts while taking on more debt to finance infrastructure development. The Treasurer argues that the government is no longer borrowing to finance daily running costs but just to cover infrastructure and defence investments.
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
