You could point the finger at the economy, but the real villain is inflation

Inflation savages profits and siphons money out of households' pockets. (Image: Getty)

Fri, 07 Jul 2023

The crown financial statement for the 11 months ended May showed that core crown revenue undershot expectations by $2.3 billion. The real number is a loss of around $6b in revenue in the first five months of the year, which is around 5% of total revenue.That miss heralds two key themes that I believe will dominate over the coming year – business cost-cutting, resulting in layoffs, and the need for fiscal policy to adjust.Both are where politics and economic reality collide, where the reality of fighting inflation is laid bare and the...

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