Australia's Treasurer confident of retaining the nation's triple-A credit rating
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E-mail Xinhua, December 3, 2016
Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison believes bumper iron ore and coal prices, in addition to steps taken by his government, are enough to maintain Australia's triple-A credit rating.
Against all expectations, the prices of two of Australia's biggest mineral exports - iron ore and coal - rose dramatically throughout the year, meaning the state of Western Australia is set to halve its budget deficit, while Queensland could improve its budget surplus three-fold, something Morrison said will help Australia's chances of maintaining the triple-A score.
Morrison, who met with state Treasurers on Friday, will make his pitch to international ratings agency S&P after the government was also able to pass key, money saving legislation before the Christmas break.
Despite earlier indications from S&P that Australia's credit rating was at risk of being lowered, Morrison believes that Australia can announce savings of more than 15 billion U.S dollars since the July 2 federal election.
He told News Corp on Saturday that, despite the Labor opposition's best efforts to block key, budget-saving legislation in the Senate, the government was "getting the job done".
"Labor's actions have exposed them to the charge that they are willing on the loss of Australia's triple-A credit rating, in the hope they may gain some cynical political advantage," Morrison said.
"We saw this again with the backpacker tax, where month after month their sole purpose was to wreck and destroy every effort to reach an outcome.
"Despite (Labor's indignation), the government has progressed more than 15 billion U.S dollars in budget improvement measures since the election, demonstrating that we are making the 45th parliament work and are getting the job done." Endit
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