Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 27-Nov-24

The federal government’s growing trend towards ‘off-budget’ spending will be a key contributor to the overall deficit blowout that Deloitte Access Economics has forecast. The firm expects the government to post an underlying deficit of $33.5bn for 2024-25, but it estimates that the headline deficit will be $54.8bn. Economist Chris Richardson says the latter figure deserves greater scrutiny, as it can be used to conceal the real state of the nation’s finances. So-called off-budget spending – which does not affect the budget deficit or surplus – is forecast to reach a record $87.1bn over the next four years.

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