Agence France-PresseMay 12, 2013 04:15
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan admitted Sunday it was politically "very uncomfortable" to fail to return the budget to surplus as forecast, but blamed unprecedented shortfalls in government revenue.
Swan, who will deliver his sixth annual budget on Tuesday, said a year ago that the national accounts should come out of deficit this financial year.
But a fall in tax revenues has forced him to delay the surplus.
"What has changed has been a fundamental writedown of revenue, which is unprecedented, which couldn't be forecast or predicted," Swan told the Nine Network.
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