Virus impact puts Aussie budget surplus target at risk

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that his government might be unable to keep its election campaign promise to deliver Australia’s first budget surplus in over a decade due to the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic in China.

The government had initially projected a 2019/20 budget surplus of A$7.1bil (US$4.71bil), and revised that down in December to a surplus of A$5bil due to falling revenues. But that estimate will need further revision in the wake of the epidemic in Australia’s biggest export market.