Australia's cash deficit has reached 10.1 billion Australian dollars or 0.6 per cent of GDP, the lowest level in a decade, the government announced on Tuesday.
The Final Budget Outcome for the 2017-18 financial year revealed that the deficit was 19.3 billion Australian dollars, better than estimated when the Federal Budget for 2017-18 was handed down.
"The Australian economy has completed its 27th consecutive year of growth," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said in a joint media release on Tuesday.
"With more than one million jobs having been created since the Coalition Government was first elected in 2013, today's outcome reflects the record number of people in jobs and an economy in which businesses are growing."
The lower-than-forecast deficit was driven by total tax receipts being 13.4 billion Australian dollars higher than expected at the time of the budget, reports Xinhua.
"Almost 350,000 jobs were created in 2017-18, with employment growing by 2.7 per cent through the year to the June quarter 2018, well above the 1.5 per cent growth forecast in the 2017-18 Budget," Frydenberg and Cormann said.
"Nominal GDP grew by 4.7 per cent in 2017-18, which was significantly stronger than the 2017-18 Budget forecast of 4 per cent."
Data released by Frydenberg earlier in September revealed that the economy grew 3.4 per cent in 2017-18, the fastest growth since the peak of the mining boom in 2012.
