The Queensland Government has released its 2018/2019 budget and as a result, Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) estimates it will borrow $8 billion in 2018/2019. This figure is about $1.8 billion less than forecast in QTC’s 2017/2018 funding requirement and it is the result of QTC pre-funding transactions. Pre-funding is the term used to describe the sale of bonds in excess of what is required for the current year.
Nearly 90% of QTC’s bond issues scheduled for the 2018/2019 year will be used to finance the $9.8 billion of QTC bonds due to mature during the year. Only $1.2 billion will be raised for new expenditure. $3 billion has already been raised in pre-funding during 2017/2018, leaving another $8 billion to be borrowed.
