6 years ago
FRYDENBERG IN FINAL BUDGET OUTCOME PRESENTATION DODGE
CHRIS BOWEN MP
Josh Frydenberg has without any explanation sneakily changed the way the Final Budget Outcome (FBO) numbers are presented to accentuate the size of Budget improvements in 2017-18.
For the first time, the FBO has been compared against the previous year’s Budget instead of against the most recent Budget figures.
The has led to the government exaggerating the Budget improvement by a staggering $11 billion compared to the standard comparison against this year’s Budget forecast.
If standard practice was followed, the FBO for 2017-18 of $10.1 billion would have been compared against this year’s Budget forecast for 2017-18 of $18 billion, not the $29 billion forecast in last year’s budget.
From today’s FBO document:
The 2017-18 underlying cash deficit was $10.1 billion, an improvement of $19.3 billion compared with the estimate at the time of the 2017-18 Budget.
From last year’s FBO document:
The 2016‑17 underlying cash deficit was $33.2 billion, an improvement of $4.4 billion compared with the estimate at the time of the 2017‑18 Budget.
For the year prior:
The 2015‑16 underlying cash deficit was $39.6 billion, an improvement of $340 million compared with the estimate at the time of the 2016‑17 Budget.
Normally, the FBO is presented as a comparison as the final financial year underlying cash balance number compared to the forecast for the same year contained in the most recent Budget.
This is what has occurred in previous Coalition FBO documents as well as during the last time Labor was in office.
Josh Frydenberg should be spending more time in the current round of Expenditure Review Committee meetings working out how he’s going to pay for new spending commitments instead of working up a Budget presentation smoke and mirrors exercise.