Australia treasurer sees $9.4 bln flood,storm cost
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sunday that the recent floods in the eastern side of the country, together with Cyclone Yasi, have made “the difficult task of compiling next month’s budget even more difficult.” The Treasury is now estimating that the cost to the Australian economy from these disasters will be around 9 billion Australian dollars ($9.4 billion). “Weaker growth will clearly mean that revenues take a substantial hit in the near-term, and this comes on top of the rebuilding and recovery costs in Queensland. As the prime minister said last week, they’ll need to be some tough decisions in the budget as we stick to our strict fiscal rules,” he said.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
View full post on All Stories