Keating Revises 1986/87 Australia Payments Deficit

Treasurer Paul Keating said he now expected the Australian current account deficit for fiscal 1986/87 ending June 30 to come in around 13.25 billion dlrs.

In a statement released after Statistics Bureau figures showed the May deficit was below forecasts at 866 mln dlrs, Keating said the cumulative deficit is now likely to be about 1.5 billion dlrs below the Treasury forecast of 14.75 billion issued with the 1986/87 Budget papers last August.

However, the government had subsequently revised the forecast to around 13.75 billion dlrs after a series of current account figures indicated a declining trend.

Keating’s revised 1986/87 current account deficit forecast compares with a record shortfall of 14.40 billion dlrs in 1985/86, a level nearly double the 7.29 billion deficit recorded only two years earlier in 1983/84.

Keating said the main reason for his revision was a better-than-expected export performance. Recent quarterly figures showed export volumes rose 14.4 pct in the half-year to March 30 while import volumes rose only 0.9 pct, he said.

The Bureau data issued today showed the cumulative deficit for the first 11 months of 1986/87 narrowed to 12.32 billion dlrs from 13.21 billion a year earlier.