Treasury forecasts erred over ‘once in a century’ pandemic Frydenberg
almost 4 years in news
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has defended Treasury’s costing error, which saw the JobKeeper scheme initially forecasted $60 billion higher than was required, saying Australia was plunged into a crisis and responded to early economic forecasts.
The treasurer has ruled out extending the JobKeeper eligibility after it was revealed the scheme will cover about 3.5 million workers instead of a projected 6.5 million workers.
Speaking to Sky News on Monday, Mr Frydenberg said Australia’s response to the coronavirus crisis was a “health miracle” and had a “real economic benefit”.
“We’ve had much more success than we initially thought and that’s a good news story for Australia and it is also good news for the budget and for the bottom line because it means our borrowings will be $60 billion less than they otherwise would have been,” he said.
The treasurer said he remained in support of the Treasury and its forecasts as the nation was placed in a unique position and responded to the forecasts at the time.
“[It was a] once in a century pandemic and it is obviously very uncertain times economically and therefore very difficult to forecast the take up for particular programs,” he said.
Image: News Corp Australia
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