Federal Budget Balance (% GDP) — methodology
Category: Government & Fiscal · Unit: % of GDP · Published annual
What this metric measures
The difference between federal government revenue and spending as a share of the economy. Positive = surplus; Negative = deficit.
Why it matters: Persistent deficits add to debt. Surpluses reduce debt and provide a buffer for future downturns.
Source & provenance
- Publisher
- Australian Government Budget Papers; MYE
- Update frequency
- annual
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
How the score is computed
The score is a 0–100 normalisation of the latest observation, compared to a baseline window. The traffic-light rating (RAG) reflects both the absolute level and the recent trend.
- Direction
- Higher is better
- Trend window
- 120 months
- Baseline
- Last 10 years
Thresholds:
{
"red_max_pct_of_baseline": 95,
"amber_min_pct_of_baseline": 95,
"green_min_pct_of_baseline": 102
}See related corrections at /corrections, or the live data and chart at https://www.australiametrics.org/metric/federal-budget-balance.