With today’s $800 million borrowing from the Federal government, the total amount of gross borrowing has topped $50 billion – $50.65 billion to be precise – since the election in September last year.
The government has had to borrow to cover the existing deficit as well as to cover some of its decisions on ‘border protection’ and the $8.8 billion is spent on the reserves of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The total amount of gross debt on issue stands at $300.6 billion, a record high and up some $27.4 billion since the election.
It must be noted that some of the $50.65 billion has been issued in the form of short-dated T-Notes and has been designed to cover the maturity of other maturing bonds. Tothat extent, there is some double counting in the $50.65 billion and merely reflects the Australia Office of Financial Management maintain liquidity in the banking system and keeping the Commonwealth government balances in surplus.
There will be a bit of a seasonal lull in borrowing in the next few months as the financial year draws to a close, but it looks like the government will be on track for gross borrowing of around $80 billion in its first year in office.