Canberra goes for economic stimulus in A$75b infrastructure plan

Canberra

AUSTRALIA'S government finally took up the central bank's call for economic stimulus in its annual budget, with a A$75 billion (S$78 billion) infrastructure plan as its centrepiece.

Road, rail and runway construction will support growth from Western Sydney to Western Australia, Treasurer Scott Morrison announced in Canberra on Tuesday.

His plan promises to create thousands of jobs in an infrastructure-building bonanza as workers transition from recent mining and housing booms.

While the forecast deficit of A$29.4 billion for fiscal 2018 is slightly wider than economists predicted, the government sought to calm rating agencies by maintaining a return to surplus by 2021.

But it's bridging that gap with a heroic assumption: Australians' meagre wage growth rates are seen accelerating to above 3 per cent from und…