Australia Still Expects Budget Surplus But Difficulties Rising

A second straight budget surplus in Australia is becoming more difficult but the government is still aiming to announce it later this month, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in Washington.

“The degree of difficulty on that second surplus has come up a little bit,” Chalmers said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Washington, where he’s attending meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. “That’s certainly our goal – we’re not quite there yet,” he said, adding that the Australian economy is slowing, the labor market is softening and there is rising global economic uncertainty.