Deloitte predicts $150b deficit for Australia in four years

A leading economist has predicted the federal government’s budget will be a horror story closer to The Shining than “The Surplus”, ahead of its release next week.

Chris Richardson from Deloitte Access Economics said the job to reduce the deficit kept getting “bigger and bigger”.

The company has forecast larger deficits for the next four years, culminating in a total deficit of $150 billion.

That number is $47b more than predicted in December.

Iron ore prices and declining demand in China have been blamed for the forecast economic woes.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott today promised further savings in border protection costs, but refused to commit to a time frame for returning the budget to surplus.

“I believe in the marrow of my bones that people will have more reason to be confident after this year’s budget than now,” he said.

Labor leader Bill Shorten attacked the government over the forecast deficit.

“We saw the Abbott government say they’d deliver a surplus … then we saw it stretch out from one year to three years to sometime in the future,” he said.