Budget 2024: Interest Payments on Government Debt to Soar by 57 Percent in 4 Years

Australia will see a 57 percent surge in interest payments on national debt in the next four years as the government goes on a borrowing spree to cover its rising expenditures. In the newly released 2024-25 federal budget (pdf), the government forecasted that total interest payments (including interest payments on Australian Government Securities, loans, and other borrowing) would rise from $22.7 billion (US$15 billion) in the 2023-24 financial year, to $23.8 billion in 2024-25 before soaring to $35.6 billion in 2027-28. As a share of GDP, this represents an increase from 0.8 percent in 2023-24, to 0.9 percent in 2024-25, and 1.1 percent in 2027-28. In comparison, the recent peak of interest payments in the 2017-18 financial year was around 1 percent of GDP, while the average rate between 2011-12 and 2025-26 was over 0.7 percent....