The Department forecasts a number of macroeconomic aggregates for inclusion in the budget papers.
These forecasts have three main purposes:
- they provide a framework for presenting the economic context in which the budget is developed;
- most of the economic aggregates or their sub-components are used in the modelling of taxation and other revenue lines; and
- forecasts of nominal gross state product (GSP) are used to express key financial aggregates in relation to the size of the economy, such as non-financial public sector net debt to nominal GSP.
The spreadsheet below contains the seven published aggregates for the budget papers (Budget and Budget Update):
- real GSP growth;
- level of nominal GSP;
- employment growth;
- unemployment rate;
- growth in the consumer price index;
- growth in the wage price index; and
- annual population growth.