MID-YEAR ECONOMIC AND FISCAL OUTLOOK
2000‑01

STATEMENT BY
THE HONOURABLE PETER COSTELLO, M.P.
TREASURER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA, AND
THE HONOURABLE JOHN FAHEY, M.P.
MINISTER FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION.

November 2000

  Commonwealth of Australia 2000
ISBN  0 642 74053 4
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Foreword
The 2000-01 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) has been prepared in accordance with the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998. The Charter requires that, inter alia, the Government provide a report by the end of January each year which provides updated information to allow the assessment of the Government’s fiscal performance against its fiscal strategy.
Consistent with these requirements:
•	Part I provides an overview of fiscal and economic developments since the 2000‑01 Budget.
•	Part II discusses the economic forecasts that underpin the expenses, capital and revenue estimates.
•	Part III provides an update of the fiscal outlook.
•	Part IV provides details of the general government revenue estimates.
•	Part V provides details of the general government expenses and capital estimates.
•	Parts I to V are presented on a Government Finance Statistics (GFS) basis.
•	Appendix A provides details of decisions taken since the 2000‑01 Budget which affect revenue, expenses and capital estimates.
•	Appendix B discusses budget concepts and external reporting standards.
•	Appendix C contains the general government financial statements consistent with the Australian Accounting Standard Financial Reporting by Government (AAS31). It also includes expenses by function and sub-function in an attachment.
•	Appendix D provides the general government and consolidated whole of government financial statements on a Government Finance Statistics basis,  consistent with the Accrual Uniform Presentation Framework.
•	Appendix E discusses the sensitivity of the forward estimates to changes in economic and other parameters and provides the statement of risks.
•	Appendix F provides historical budget and net debt data.

Contents
Part I:	Overview	1
Part II:	Economic Outlook	3
Part III:	Fiscal Outlook 	17
Part IV:	Revenue	29
Part V:	Expenses and Capital	39
Appendices
Appendix A:	Policy Decisions taken since the 2000‑01 Budget	55
Appendix B:	External Reporting Standards and Budget Concepts	109
Appendix C:	AAS31 Financial Reporting by Government
Primary Financial Statements	119
Appendix D:	Commonwealth Government Finance Statistics Statements	141
Appendix E:	Sensitivity of Fiscal Aggregates to 
Economic Developments and Statement of Risks	153
Appendix F:	Historical Fiscal Data	165

Notes
(a)	The following definitions are used in the MYEFO:
•	‘real’ means adjusted for the effect of inflation;
•	real growth in expenses is measured by the non‑farm Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator; 
•	one billion is equal to one thousand million; and
•	the budget year refers to 2000‑01, while the forward years refer to 2001‑02, 2002‑03 and 2003‑04.
(b)	Figures in tables and generally in the text have been rounded. Discrepancies in tables between totals and sums of components are due to rounding:
•	estimates under $100,000 are rounded to the nearest thousand;
•	estimates $100,000 and over are generally rounded to the nearest tenth of a million;
•	estimates midway between rounding points are rounded up; and
•	the percentage changes in statistical tables are calculated using unrounded data.
(c)	For the budget balance, a negative sign indicates a deficit while no sign indicates a surplus. 
(d)	The following notations are used:
NEC/nec	not elsewhere classified
AEST	Australian Eastern Standard Time
-	nil
..	not zero, but rounded to zero
na	not applicable (unless otherwise specified)
nfp	not for publication
$m	$ million
$b	$ billion
(e)	
References to the ‘States’ or ‘each State’ include the Territories, because from 1993‑94 onwards, general purpose funding has been on the same basis for all jurisdictions. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are referred to as ‘the Territories’. The following abbreviations are used for the names of the States, where appropriate:
NSW	New South Wales
VIC/Vic	Victoria
QLD/Qld	Queensland
WA	Western Australia
SA	South Australia
TAS/Tas	Tasmania
ACT	Australian Capital Territory
NT	Northern Territory