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Australia expects lower profits upgrade in budget due to falling product rates

Australia will report a. smaller revenue upgrade in its federal budget for the year ended. June 30 than it published the previous year due to falling product. costs and a softening labour market, the country's Treasurer. will state on Thursday.

Thriving commodity prices saw major exporter Australia report. an earnings upgrade of more than A$ 100 billion ($ 66.12 billion) in. 2022-2023, a task that is unlikely to be repeated for 2023-2024. in tandem with its budget statement in May, according to. Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

The income upgrades will be smaller, Chalmers will state in. a speech on Thursday, according to an advance copy seen by. .

In each of our first two budget plans we took advantage of more. than A$ 100 billion in income upgrades. This year, we will not see. anything like that.

In truth we are even looking at much less than the A$ 69. billion we scheduled in the latest mid-year spending plan update.

Key to the smaller sized upgrades are product prices, Chalmers. will state, with iron ore area costs down nearly 10% in the last. week alone due to issues about the need for steel in China.

The cost of thermal coal, another key Australian export, is. down by a third in the in 2015, he will add.

Australia's unemployed rate hit a two-year high in January,. implying earnings upgrades from increased employment were. unlikely, though Chalmers will say the employment rate was a. head of Treasury forecasts.

We invite this, but we don't anticipate to get such upside. projection surprises this time around, he will say.

(source: Reuters)