The Secretaries of Treasury and Department of Finance have released their traditional report on the health of Australia’s economic future, a report required prior to every federal general election.
Aimed at provide information for the public on what the nation’s economic and fiscal outlook actually looks like, the Secretaries’ Pre‑election Economic and Fiscal Outlook report (PEFO) is required to be released within 10 days of the election date being formalised.
The latest PEFO states that the economic and fiscal outlook had not materially changed since the publication of the 2022-23 Budget on 29 March of this year.
“While there has been recent movement in some economic indicators, taking into account all available information, our judgment is that these have not materially altered the economic and fiscal outlook,” the Secretaries said.
They said the information it contained took into account, to the fullest extent possible, all Government decisions and all other circumstances that might have a material effect on the economic and fiscal outlook that was in existence before the election was called.
“The PEFO does not include the impact of election commitments that do not constitute decisions of Government,” the Secretaries said.
“They are costed separately during the election campaign,” they said.
“The Charter of Budget Honesty provides that, where there is information unchanged from that set out in full in an earlier Budget Report, the PEFO may summarise and state this information is unchanged,” the Secretaries, Dr Steven Kennedy in Treasury and Rosemary Huxtable, in Finance, said.
The Secretaries’ 34-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
