Frydenberg's budget again surprises with much smaller than forecast deficit, at least $14bn ahead of plan...

Kieran Davies

Coolabah Capital

The Commonwealth budget continues to improve amidst the largest sell-off in the government bond market since 1994 as Coolabah Capital Investments (CCI) has repeatedly forecast. Data for January show the underlying cash budget for 2020-21 is running about $14bn better than the run-rate required to hit Treasury’s full-year forecast of a $198bn shortfall, which is remarkable considering that Treasury revised down its forecast from an initial estimate of $214bn as recently in December. CCI's seasonal adjustment of the monthly data points to the risk of a greater improvement in the budget, with these figures showing a much larger $25bn turnaround. 

Most of the improvement in the budget is due to spending undershooting the government forecast profile by about $9bn, driven by lower welfare payments and grants and subsidies. Revenue is tracking about $5bn above expectations – mainly due to higher company and super fund tax receipts – although it has lost some momentum after quickly recovering from the worst point of the pandemic. 

While the budget deficit for 2020-21 will still be the largest peacetime deficit on record, the improving trend shows that government is likely to revise down its forecast substantially when the Treasurer brings down the budget in May. This is very important for bond markets because it implies lower supply than investors are currently banking on.


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Kieran Davies
Chief Macro Strategist
Coolabah Capital

Based in Sydney, Kieran Davies is Chief Macro Strategist at Coolabah Capital Investments, an asset manager with 40 executives and over $8 billion in fixed-income strategies. Kieran is responsible for macroeconomic research and investment strategy,...

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