Major infrastructure projects,such as Sydney's Westconnex project,will feature in the federal government's plan to recover from the recession. Taxpayers back more borrowing to fund such projects.Credit:Sam Mooy
The government will outline a major infrastructure program in the budget as well as other measures to lift productivity. With the budget expected to be in deficit for several years,any extra spending will have to be financed by borrowing.
The Reserve Bank,in the minutes of its September meeting released on Tuesday,argued all levels of government could increase their borrowing levels to boost the economy.
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"In an environment of record low borrowing rates and significant spare capacity in the economy,this meant fiscal policy was well placed to continue to support the recovery,"the minutes said.
The Per Capita survey,which has been running for the past decade,found a spike since the start of the pandemic in the proportion of people supportive of governments borrowing money for long-term investments.
In February,a third of the 1550 people quizzed supported such borrowing,a similar number were opposed while the remaining were unsure.
By August,the number supporting long term borrowing had climbed to 48.3 per cent while those opposed had dropped to a survey-low of 23 per cent. About 29 per cent were still unsure.