Eva Lawler
Treasurer
Media Release
Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report
22 November 2022
Today the Northern Territory Government Treasurer tabled the 2021-2022 Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report in Parliament.
The Report presents the Government’s fiscal performance for the 2021-22 year and also satisfies the requirements of the Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act 2001.
The final outcome for 2021-22 is a fiscal balance deficit of $330 million. This represents an improvement of $524 million since the revised figure in the 2022-23 Budget and a massive $1 billion improvement from the original figure in the 2021-22 Budget from May last year.
The final fiscal balance deficit is just over half that originally predicted. Other key fiscal aggregates for 2021-22 are:
a general government net operating deficit of $137 million – less than half the original 2021-22 Budget forecastnet debt in the non-financial public sector of $7.6 billion – $1.4 billion lower than forecast in the 2021-22 Budget, anda net debt to revenue ratio of 96% – 26 percentage points lower than the 2021-22 Budget projection.
The better than expected outcome is the result of a number of factors. GST revenue was stronger than expected, reflecting higher household consumption and the broader recovery in the national economy. The Territory’s own-source taxation revenue was also significantly improved, reflecting confidence in our own economy with improvements in housing sale volumes and values, and strong business confidence evidenced by several large commercial property transactions in 2021-22. Mining royalty revenue was also significantly improved as a result of increased production and higher than estimated commodity prices.
Quotes attributed to Treasurer, Eva Lawler:
“While there are a number of headwinds on the horizon with rising inflation and persistent increases in interest rates, the significant improvement in 2021-22 positions the Territory to tackle and overcome uncertainty and challenges ahead.
“Our Territory government continues to support Territorians with many measures to reduce the cost of living, including a range of subsidies and grant programs, and also Community Service Obligations of $123 million per year to subsidise all Territorians’ power and water bills and ensure we don’t see the huge cost energy cost increases as those on the East Coast.”
Northern Territory Government
