Budget Strategy and Outlook 2019-20
Budget Paper No. 2
Budget Strategy and Outlook
Contents Under Treasurer’s Certification 3 Chapter 1 Overview 5 Chapter 2 Fiscal outlook 11 Chapter 3 Economic outlook 27 Chapter 4 Fiscal strategy statement 39 Chapter 5 Intergovernmental financial relations issues 51 Chapter 6 Territory taxes and royalties 65 Chapter 7 Risks and contingent liabilities 81 Chapter 8 Uniform presentation framework 93 Appendices 113 Appendix A Classification of entities in the Northern Territory 115 Appendix B Glossary 116
1 2019-20 Budget
2 Budget Strategy and Outlook Under Treasurer’s Certification
In accordance with provisions of the Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act 2001, I certify that the financial projections included in the May 2019 Budget documentation were based on Government decisions that I was aware of or that were made available to me by the Treasurer before 28 April 2019. The projections presented here are in accordance with the Uniform Presentation Framework.
Craig Graham Under Treasurer 29 April 2019
3 2019-20 Budget
4 Budget Strategy and Outlook
Chapter 1 Overview
Budget Paper No. 2 presents whole of government financial information and consolidates information from other budget papers. It also meets the requirements of the Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act 2001 and the Uniform Presentation Framework, as agreed by all Australian jurisdictions. Fiscal outlook The 2019-20 Budget incorporates significant savings and revenue measures approved through the recent root and branch program review and government’s response to the recommendations of the Fiscal Strategy Panel’s final report: A plan for budget repair. The measures introduced in the 2019‑20 Budget demonstrate the government’s commitment to returning the budget to a sustainable position and is underpinned by a new fiscal strategy with the twin objectives of supporting the economy in the short term and providing a pathway back to a balanced budget and reduced debt levels over the medium term. The 2019-20 Budget maintains government’s commitments to infrastructure investment, aimed at supporting the economy and local jobs, while continuing to meet the ongoing demand for frontline services in the areas of health, child protection, justice and community safety. The 2019-20 Budget also incorporates new initiatives to stimulate the tourism industry and foster private sector investment, as well as measures to reduce the impact of anti-social behaviour in the Northern Territory. Savings measures, significant increases in mining royalty revenue and financial assistance from the Commonwealth Government have resulted in an improvement in the Territory’s projected fiscal position and outlook when compared to the 2018-19 Budget. Despite these savings measures and increases in revenue, the fiscal balance remains in deficit across the forward estimates largely attributable to the reduction in GST revenue estimates of around $500 million per annum, compared to projections at the time of the 2016 Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook. Updated fiscal projections in the 2019-20 Budget include: • total revenue for the non financial public sector of $6.6 billion in 2019-20 and operating expenditure of $7.2 billion • general government net operating balance deficits projected to decline across the budget and forward estimates period, with a deficit of $632 million in 2019-20, declining to a deficit of $383 million in 2022‑23 • a non financial public sector fiscal balance deficit of $1.1 billion in 2019-20, reducing over the forward estimates to a deficit of $530 million in 2022-23 • the new Australian accounting standard AASB 16 Leases becomes effective from 2019-20 for all private and public sector reporting entities. The revised accounting treatment will increase the Territory’s reported net debt by $871 million in 2019-20, reducing over the forward estimates to an increase of $587 million in 2022-23 • the new Australian accounting standard reflects a change in the reporting of operating leases and does not change the economic position or legal circumstance of the Territory • net debt at the non financial public sector forecast to increase to $6.2 billion in 2019-20, rising to $8 billion in 2022-23
Overview 5 2019-20 Budget
• excluding the impact of the new Australian accounting standard, the underlying net debt in the non financial public sector is forecast at $5.3 billion in 2019-20, a reduction of $212 million compared to the 2018-19 Budget. Similarly, the underlying net debt to revenue ratio is projected to be 80 per cent in 2019-20, compared to 91 per cent forecast in the 2018‑19 Budget. Table 1.1 provides the key fiscal aggregates for the general government sector and the non financial public sector for the 2019‑20 Budget.
Table 1.1: Key fiscal indicators and aggregates
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 Estimate Budget Forward estimate $M $M $M $M $M General government sector Net operating balance - 727 - 632 - 615 - 512 - 383
Non financial public sector Fiscal balance - 1 263 - 1 054 - 859 - 604 - 530 Net debt 4 191 6 206 6 988 7 524 8 021 Net debt to revenue (%) 63 93 105 109 114
Further discussion on the comparison between the estimates contained in the 2019-20 Budget and those projected at the time of the 2018-19 Budget together with an explanation of the effect of the new leases accounting standard on net debt is provided in Chapter 2. Economic outlook Table 1.2 details the outlook for the Territory’s key economic indicators, including actuals for 2017‑18, estimates for the current year, and forecasts for 2019-20 and the forward estimates period.
Table 1.2: Territory key economic indicators (%)
2017-18a 2018-19e 2019-20f 2020-21f 2021-22f 2022-23f Gross state product1 1.7 - 0.2 6.3 4.1 2.9 2.5 State final demand1 - 2.7 - 9.4 - 1.7 0.3 2.4 2.2 Population2 - 0.1 - 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.7 0.8 Employment3 - 1.2 - 1.6 0.0 0.7 0.9 1.0 Unemployment rate4 4.2 4.7 4.6 4.5 4.5 4.4 Consumer price index3 1.0 1.5 1.6 2.0 2.2 2.2 Wage price index3 1.3 1.8 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.8
a: actual; e: estimate; f: forecast 1 Year ended June, year-on-year percentage change, inflation adjusted. 2 Year ended June, annual percentage change. 3 Year ended June, year-on-year percentage change. 4 Year average. Source: Department of Treasury and Finance; Australian Bureau of Statistics Over the last 20 years, the Territory economy has expanded from a succession of major projects, with the most recent contributor being the Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which has added an average $5 billion of investment per annum to the Territory economy since 2011‑12. During the construction phase of the Ichthys LNG project, the local economy attracted a significant number of workers (sourced from both interstate and overseas) to supplement the local workforce. The inflow of workers and broader population underpinned growth in investment and construction
6 Overview Budget Strategy and Outlook activity, including in the residential market. This further drove strong employment growth over a broad range of industries. However as the construction phase of the project has wound down, so too has the broader economic expansion with a range of indicators now declining in the non‑export sectors of the Territory economy.
Chart 1.1: Performance of Territory key economic indicators (%)