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 contains the seven published aggregates for the budget papers (Budget and Budget Update):
- real GSP
- nominal GSP
- employment
- unemployment
- the consumer price index
- the wage price index
- population.