MYEFO griefo
There was little good news in today's mid-year budget update, and little explanation from the government on how it plans to pay for many of the cost pressures on the bottom line.
By the time Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher finished their press conference in Parliament House’s Blue Room today, the deteriorating budget bottom line was not leading most Australian news sites.
Instead, headlines were dominated by the court appearance of veteran broadcaster Alan Jones, who pleaded not guilty to more than 30 indecent assault charges.
It’s not difficult to conclude that the timing of the mid-year economic fiscal outlook (MYEFO) was intentional, given the negative headlines.
Chalmers and Gallagher stressed that this year’s $26.95 billion deficit is half the $47.1 billion forecast in the pre-election fiscal outlook (PEFO) of 2022. Yet over the four-year forward estimates, the deficits total $143.9 billion — $22 billion more than projected in May.
