Nice work from Adam Creighton today:
One of the world’s biggest ratings agencies has questioned the NSW government’s finances, as new analysis reveals the nationwide infrastructure boom is pushing combined federal and state government debts towards the $1 trillion mark for the first time.
US ratings giant Moody’s called the widely praised NSW budget a “credit negative” this week, singling out “rising debt levels”. In its budget verdict, Moody’s contrasted 3.2 per cent average annual growth in expenses over the next four years with revenue growth of 2.5 per cent over the same period. “This imbalance would lead to growth in debt over the forecast period, challenging NSW’s credit profile,” it said.