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.
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