With just two months to go until the end of the financial year, the federal budget deficit was about $15.5 billion smaller than had been forecast in December for the full year.
The monthly government financial statement for April released on Friday showed the underlying cash deficit at $31.45 billion after 10 months.
This compares with the $32.48 billion forecast for this stage of the year and the $47 billion predicted for the whole of 2013/14 at the time of the midyear budget review released in December, to which the statement compares itself against.
The difference of $1.03 billion to what was expected by April was due to lower-than-expected cash payments being partially offset by lower than expected cash receipts.
The latest statement also does not include the $8.8 billion grant the government is providing the Reserve Bank to replenish its reserves, which will likely show up in the May statement.
However, the overall positive result was no thanks to the mineral resource rent tax (MRRT), which raised just $32 million in April, taking the total after 10 months to $169 million.
It was forecast to raise $500 million for the full year.
Legislation to abolish the impost on the super profits of coal and iron ore mining companies remains stuck in the Senate, where the government does not have a majority.
The May budget subsequently raised the 2013/14 budget deficit forecast to $49.9 billion.
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