Chief Minister and Treasurer, Andrew Barr has delivered the Territory’s mid-year Budget update.
Handing down the Budget Review, Mr Barr (pictured) said it continued the work of the 2018-19 Budget which strengthened home-based care for older Canberrans, supported the new bus network and increased utility concessions for low income households.
Mr Barr said the update showed the Government was continuing to allocate more for better services where they were needed, getting on with delivering new health, education and transport infrastructure for Canberra.
“Our broadly balanced Budget position and capacity for continued investment is underpinned by the sustained growth of the ACT economy,” Mr Barr said.
“In 2017-18, our economy grew at the fastest rate of any jurisdiction in Australia at four per cent, well above our 15-year average growth rate of 3.3 per cent.”
He said the unemployment rate in the ACT was the lowest in the country. The youth unemployment rate was well below the national average and fell over the past 12 months, to currently sit at 8.7 per cent.
“Our strong and growing economy is creating more good jobs, and we continue to attract bright, skilled people from across Australia and around the world because of the great quality of life on offer here,” Mr Barr said.
“The ACT’s solid fiscal management and strong economic outlook has been confirmed by the international ratings agency Standard and Poor’s. In September 2018, the agency confirmed our AAA credit rating, and upgraded the ACT to a stable outlook.”
The Chief Minister said this was the highest rating possible for any State or Territory Government, and was shared by only Victoria and NSW within Australia.
