Budget deficit for 2013/14 soars to $48.5b

The final budget outcome for the 2013/14 year was a deficit of $48.5 billion, Treasurer Joe Hockey says.

The final budget outcome for the 2013/14 year was a deficit of $48.5 billion, Joe Hockey says. (AAP)

The final federal budget deficit for the 2013/14 year has come in at $48.5 billion, $30 billion more than initially forecast.

"It is not a confected number, it is the real figure," Treasurer Joe Hockey told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

Mr Hockey noted his Labor predecessor, Wayne Swan, had promised an $18 billion deficit when he delivered his last budget in May 2013.

"Two years ago he promised a $5.4 billion surplus."

Mr Hockey said successive Labor governments had delivered six successive deficits totalling $240 billion with many more forecast.

"The coalition inherited a shambles of a budget, a weakening economy and rising unemployment," he said, adding if no policy action was taken, gross debt would have spiralled to $667 billion over the medium term.