Strong surplus provides boost to infrastructure
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14 October 2008
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Victoria’s economy remains strong despite the challenges in the global economy, Treasurer John Lenders said today.
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Releasing Victoria’s annual financial results, Mr Lenders said the 2007-08 Annual Financial Report showed the net result from transactions was a $1482 million surplus, which would help to boost the State’s infrastructure spending.
“Our strong surplus allows investment in tomorrow’s infrastructure in areas like education, health and community safety and also helps us address the new challenges in transport, our changing climate and meeting the demands of our growing population,” Mr Lenders said.
“Victoria continues to retain its triple-A credit rating, maintain low levels of state debt and recently earned an A+ for financial transparency from Access Economics.”
Mr Lenders said the results illustrated the government’s commitment to sound financial management with general government net debt remaining low at $2.2 billion, or just 0.8 per cent of Gross State Product, compared to three per cent in June 1999.
He also said the surplus would allow investment in infrastructure projects outlined in the Government’s 2008-09 Public Sector Asset Investment Program, also released today.
“We have again achieved a Budget surplus alongside record levels of infrastructure investment worth $3.9 billion in 2007-08 alone,” Mr Lenders said.
“We are taking action to improve our infrastructure further with a $4.3 billion a year earmarked over the next four years to help us provide better health and education services and modern transport and community safety facilities.”
Key results in the 2007-08 AFR include:
· 2007-08 general government operating surplus—net result from transactions—of $1482 million
· record infrastructure spending in 2007-08 of $3.9 billion—$645 million more than previous year
· over $21 billion invested in infrastructure from 1999-2000 to 2007-08
Mr Lenders said Victoria’s economic fundamentals remained strong with record levels of private capital investment, the nation’s highest level of building approvals and unemployment rates of less than five per cent over the past 26 months.
Victoria was responsible for half the nation's economic growth in domestic demand in the last quarter which led to Victoria being branded the nation’s economic engine, Mr Lenders said.
The 2007-08 Annual Financial Report can be viewed at: http://www.dtf.vic.gov.au
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