Australia's government offered 158 billion Australian dollars ($112.18 billion) in tax cuts over the next decade aimed primarily at middle-income earners, and an increase in infrastructure spending targeted at rural areas.
Several Australian opposition politicians hit out at the ruling government for proposing a federal budget that, as they claim, focuses on winning an upcoming election instead of driving economic growth in the coming years.
"And that's why the budget, I think, is a wasted opportunity. It's a short-term election spendathon rather than a medium- and long-term plan for the future of the country," added Swan, who's the national president of the Australian Labor Party, the country's main opposition party. Australia has avoided a recession for close to three decades and is expected by economists to extend that record. But growth has slowed in recent quarters, with a limited rise in wages and a fall in household wealth putting a lid on how much private consumption can lift the economy, economists said.
Many analysts agreed there was a political consideration in the way the budget was drafted, and some questioned whether the tax cuts will be enough to lift consumption in Australia.
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