Surprisingly robust consumer spending helps prop up govt accounts

Wed, 10 Jun 2020

Robust consumer spending in April provided some relief to the government’s coffers in April, with the goods and services tax take running ahead of expectations. The government’s operating balance before gains and losses was a deficit of $12.78 billion in the 10 months ended April 30, some $629 million below the Treasury’s Budget forecast in May. That was due in part to resilient consumer spending providing a boost to GST, which was $1.1 billion ahead of expectations, and a smaller uptake of the government-backed business loan scheme for bank...

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