Treasurer expects improved budget result

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is confident the budget position for the past financial year will better than his forecast made in April, as new figures showed a further improvement in the nation's income..

Mr Frydenberg was in Question Time reeling off the government's achievements in recent years in getting the budget towards a surplus.

He said in 2016/17 the final budget outcome was $4 billion better than forecast and in 2017/18 it was around $20 billion more than predicted.

"In '18/19 I'm confident we will outperform our budget forecast," the treasurer told parliament on Thursday.

In his April 2 budget, he forecast a deficit of $4.2 billion in the 2018/19 financial year, before reaching a surplus of $7.1 billion budget in 2019/20, the first time the budget will be in the black for over a decade.

The final budget outcome for 2018/19 financial year is due in September.

Mr Frydenberg's comments came as new Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed the nation's terms of trade saw a further improvement in the June quarter - the final three months of the 2018/19 year.

The report for Australia's trade price indexes showed export prices rose 2.8 per cent in the June quarter, while import prices rose just 0.9 per cent.

As a result, Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlan calculated the terms of trade for goods rose a further 2.8 per cent to be 13.5 per cent higher over the year.

"Higher commodity prices are driving robust gains in Australia's national income ... tax collections are receiving a boost," Mr Hanlan said.