The economists who took part in BusinessDays midyear economic survey also rejected the notion of a debt crisis. One said it was an abuse of the language to apply the term to Australia. Australia is not facing a budget or a public debt crisis right now, AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said. Our budget deficit and net public debt are low by OECD standards, our bond yields are low and foreign investors are happily buying our bonds. Chris Caton, from BT Financial, said it was simply absurd to suggest Australia had too much government debt. Saul Eslake of Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the incoming Conservative government in Britain had faced a budget crisis and a debt emergency in 2010. The projected deficit was 10 per cent of gross domestic product, and net public debt was in excess of 60 per cent of GDP. To apply similar terms to Australia with a prospective deficit of 2 per cent of GDP and net public debt of 15 per cent of GDP was to abuse the English language.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 05:03:53 +0000
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