Given the brief time that has elapsed since its publication, I will focus mainly on the macroeconomic outlook and on developments in the public finances this year; I will then make some preliminary remarks on the finance plans and outlook for the next few years. 1.
Federal debt servicing costs were absorbing 38 cents of every dollar of government revenue. This situation was clearly unsustainable, and many difficult and unpopular decisions had to be taken to clean up public sector balance sheets during the 1990s. In 1994 the Government launched a series of expenditure reductions which, by 1997, had reduced program spending by almost 20 per cent.