State government finances have taken a battering during the pandemic. The cost of responding to the health and economic crisis meant expenses ballooned. At the same time recession ravaged key revenue sources including the GST and payroll tax.
The forecast for this year’s deficit was pared back from $16 billion to $13.3 billion and net state debt is now tipped to grow a little more slowly than expected in November. The output of the NSW economy is on track to recover to pre-COVID levels by 2021-22, about six months sooner than anticipated.
Around 170,000 firms in NSW are still receiving wage subsidies – which support half a million workers – under the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme. The strength of the recovery will be tested by the withdrawal of that program due at the end of March. Mr Perrottet made the right call when he chose to put “the economy before the budget” and implement unprecedented stimulus measures at the onset of the coronavirus crisis. But he needs to continue with that strategy for some time yet.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.