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CANBERRA, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Australia's final budget outcome for the 2009/10 financial year (July 2009-June 2010) was a 54.8 billion dollars (52 billion U.S. dollars) deficit, the federal government announced on Friday.
The result was a 2.3 billion dollars (2.2 billion U.S. dollars) improvement on the 57.1 billion dollars (54.1 billion U.S. dollars) deficit estimated at the time of the May budget.
The final result, revealed on Friday, was due to lower-than-estimated cash payments - 2.6 billion dollars (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) - while cash receipts also were lower by 249 million dollars (236 million U.S. dollars).
Total taxation receipts were 14 million dollars (13 million U.S. dollars) higher than previously forecast.
Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Senator Penny Wong said the budget outcome was in "far better condition" than other comparable nations.
"(It puts) us in a strong position to deliver a surplus in 2012/ 13," they said in a joint statement.
The final budget document said economic growth in Australia was now strengthening and tax receipts recovering after the impact from the global financial crisis.
At the end of 2009/10, the level of Australian government net debt was 42.3 billion dollars (40 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which was 445 million dollars (422 million U.S. dollars) higher than expected at the time of the May budget.
"This is dramatically lower than the net debt position for the major advanced economies, which average a collective 70 percent of GDP in 2009," the statement said.