Australian PM says will not deliver federal budget until October

[SYDNEY] Australia will not release its federal budget until October as it was "not sensible" to put together economic forecasts during such uncertain times, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

The announcement comes as the lockdowns and the travel bans related to the novel coronavirus pandemic have jolted Australia's economy, which is now on the verge of its first recession in nearly three decades.

The number of Covid-19 cases across Australia surged to nearly 800, with the bulk of the patients in the country's most populous state of New South Wales. REUTERS