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Australia aims to trim huge budget deficit

MANILA: Australia aims to trim its huge budget deficit over the next two years, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Tim Fischer said on Monday.

"We aim to get the budget back to underlying balance by 1997-1998, cutting A$4.0 billion (US$3.13 billion) off the deficit in each of the next two years," Fischer said at a meeting with Australian and Filipino businessmen in Manila.

The conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard which came to power last month had warned of job cuts to balance the budget deficit left by its Labor predecessor.

Fischer said that business and trade are at the core of the new government's foreign policy and that Australia will revitalise and deepen microeconomic reforms to improve the competitiveness of its industry.

"Industry, including state enterprises like Telstra, needs the stimulus of competition, and it needs to be relieved of unnecessary regulatory burdens and costs," he said.

Priority areas for reform would include the labour market, the waterfront, communications, transport and energy, he said.

Fischer also urged the Philippines government to push for further reforms in its services sector.

"We hope that further liberalisation will get results for Australian services like insurance, accounting, legal, health and education."-Reuter