Treasurer Scott Morrison is speaking at the Press Club today – it will no doubt be a great opportunity to outline the Coalition’s economic agenda to take to the election later this year.
By way of background to the speech, I though it useful to benchmark a few key data points for the audience to bear in mind as Mr Morrison gets to his feet:
The data compare the situation at the time of the last election with the most recent information.
Government debt: Net debt was $175 billion, now $274 billion: Gross debt was $273 billion, now $409 billion. Net debt was 10.0% of GDP (end 2012-13) currently 16.9% of GDP (end 2015-16) and according to MYEFO will be 18.2% of GDP at end 2018-19.
Wages growth: Was 2.6%, now 2.3% – the lowest ever recorded.
Tax: Was 21.5% of GDP (2012-13) currently 22.3% of GDP (2015-16) and according to MYEFO will reach 23.1% of GDP in 2018-19.
Government spending: Was 24.1% of GDP (2012-13) currently 25.9% of GDP and according to MYEFO will be 25.3% of GDP in 2018-19.
Private new capital expenditure: Was $41.5 billion (September quarter 2013) currently $31.4 billion (September quarter 2015) to be down 24%.
Unemployment rate: Was 5.6%, now 5.8%.
ASX200: Was 5,155 points, now 4,910 points (note it was 5,522 points when the carbon tax was abolished).
It’s not the worse record on which to approach the inquistors of the Press Gallery, but its certainly not what was promised before the last election.
