The 2026 Budget reflects a fiscal hangover following 2025’s aggressive tax cuts. With nominal GDP growth projected at a modest 10% and GST revenues shrinking, the government faces a tightening fiscal squeeze. Debt reduction is off to a slow start.
The only Budget analysis you'll need: The government's tight fiscal math, explained in 8 charts
Summary
The 2026 Budget reflects a fiscal hangover following 2025's aggressive tax cuts. With nominal GDP growth projected at a modest 10% and GST revenues shrinking, the government faces a tightening fiscal squeeze. Debt reduction is off to a slow start.
If 2025 was about putting money in the hands of the common people through large-scale and much-celebrated cuts in both direct and indirect taxes, the new year appears to be about its after-effects—on the government's fiscal math, not so much on consumption-led growth wheels.