SYDNEY, May 5 (Reuters) - Australia's budget could remain in deficit for as much as six years as government revenue falls and spending rises to deal with the impact of the global economic crisis, local media said on Tuesday.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Tuesday a downturn in government revenue meant the government's forecast "temporary deficit" would remain for a longer period, but declined to give a timeframe.
Swan said details of the budget would be revealed on May 12. But unnamed goverment sources told local television stations that the budget would remain in deficit for six years, until 2015-16.
"The impact of this sharper (global) downturn on government revenue certainly means a temporary deficit for a longer period of time because of this very sharp contraction in demand," Swan told reporters in Canberra.
Swan has previously said government forecasts for Australia's economic growth and budget deficit will be "substantially worse" in the May 12 budget.
The government has said its budget would fall into deficit of A$22.5 billion ($16.7 billion) in 2008/09, or 1.9 percent of GDP, and A$35 billion, or 2.9 percent of GDP, the following year.
The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 13 economists puts the deficit at around A$31.5 billion in 2008/09 and A$54.8 billion the following year, with some forecasts for as high as A$80 billion in 2009/10.
Australia has announced stimulus spending of A$78 billion since September 2008 in an effort to support the export-driven A$1 trillion economy.
