Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the upcoming federal budget would include steps to ameliorate cost-of-living challenges, while also seeking to help moderate inflation.
(Bloomberg) — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the upcoming federal budget would include steps to ameliorate cost-of-living challenges, while also seeking to help moderate inflation.
The budget on May 9 is about “taking pressure off the cost-of-living but is also about showing our responsible economic management to make sure we put that downward pressure on inflation,” Albanese said in a briefing on Saturday.
Albanese’s government faces the challenge of achieving pledged social goals while restraining spending, at a time when households are being squeezed by elevated inflation and interest rates.
Australia’s underlying cash deficit in the nine months through March was A$11.2 billion ($7.4 billion), compared with a forecast of A$34.5 billion in the 2022-23 budget, according to data released Friday.
In comments in the Australian Financial Review, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there had been “a significant improvement to the budget position in the near term, but pressures in later years intensify rather than ease.”
Albanese was speaking alongside local officials at a briefing in Hobart, Tasmania to announce a development project.
Read more: Australia Warns of Global Challenges Confronting Next Budget
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