Thu. Nov 21st, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

Western Australia’s finances are continuing to go from strength-to-strength, with Treasurer Rita Saffioti handing down a healthy set of books in her first major test in the role.

The state’s surplus – a measure former Premier Mark McGowan was always so proud of – has grown by $400 million from his last budget, but that’s still smaller than what was expected.

So where has the money come from, where’s it going and who benefits?

What are the key figures?

The big one is the surplus – which is now expected to be $3.7 billion dollars, up from the $3.3 billion forecast in May’s budget.

Part of that is down to iron ore prices. The government always forecasts them to be on the lower end, to avoid budgeting money they don’t have.

Yet again, prices have remained high and added extra money to the coffers, although it has been moderated by lithium prices falling by 80 per cent, taking about $550 million out of the budget.

All up, the state is getting $2.2 billion more than it expected, but expenses have risen by $1.8 billion – leaving just $400 million extra left over.

The state’s economy is also growing stronger than expected, with growth revised up from 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

Weren’t we expecting a bigger surplus?

Some had been predicting the surplus could rise much further than it has, closer to $6 or $7 billion.

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