Debt Servicing to Hit $25 Million a Day Despite Victoria’s Forecast Surplus

Victoria’s state budget will record the first operating surplus since COVID-19, but net debt remains a burden that Victorians will be paying for years to come.

Labor's Jaclyn Symes, then attorney-general and now-Treasurer, speaks to the media during a press conference in Melbourne, Australia on March 10, 2022. AAP Image/Diego Fedele

Victoria’s Treasurer Jaclyn Symes is spruiking a $600 million forecast operating surplus in 2025/26, the first time the state’s budget has been in the black since the pandemic.

But it’s $1 billion lower than what was predicted in December, and independent economist Saul Eslake has said forecasts of net operating surpluses in the coming financial years should be greeted with a “big yawn.”