Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Better lucky than smart

The Lucky Country

MYEFO sensitivity analysis showed that +/- $10 per tonne to the assumed FOB iron ore price, if sustained through the year, could add $12 billion to nominal GDP in 2019/20.

Better still it could add a humongous $3.6 billion in tax receipts.

The Budget had assumed a FOB price of $55/tonne.

Well, hold the front page, as it's currently about double that.

Indeed the iron ore price is now up by 184 per cent from the December 2015 lows at more than US $108/tonne, and it's ballooning higher by the day. 


For completeness here is the same data series charted back to the peak of the iron ore price bubble of 2008.

It's worth noting that the Aussie dollar today is trading at 69 US cents, a far cry from 110 US cents back at the peak of the heady mining boom days, which boosts the Aussie dollar value of exports enormously.


What. A. Windfall.

The Budget will apparently be back to surplus about a year earlier than previously forecast.

Can ScoMo push through some tax cuts now, please?

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Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn said the bank had its busiest week for loan applications in some six months as sentiment has turned positive after the election.