This year's Northern Territory budget will be delivered amid challenging economic times for the Top End, the NT treasurer says.
Nicole Manison said the budget, to be handed down in May, will have to deal with slow down in the economy and a shortfall in GST revenue.
"It is going to be a really important budget for the future of the NT because we are faced with some very challenging times at the moment," Ms Manison said on Wednesday.
She said the budget had been "hurt deeply" by a $2 billion cut in its GST revenue.
The comments point to a possible deterioration in the Territory's economic outlook after a mid-year report in November showed some signs of improvement.
In that report, the NT deficit for 2017/18 was tipped to come in at $1.1 billion or $245 million lower than originally forecast when the budget was released in May.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said that government's role in challenging economic times was to provide confidence and certainty.
He outlined the budget will provide an additional $2.4 million over two years to attract investment, including more liquefied natural gas projects, as well as gold and phosphate mining to drive job creation.
"We know we have got to create more local jobs for Territorians," he said.
The budget will also provide $1 million to the Department of Environment to expand the number of environmental assessors, to get projects underway as quickly as possible.
"Environmental approvals can be highly complex for major projects which reflects their scale and significance, this funding will help with that work," Mr Gunner said.
The chief minister said there were currently 18 major projects worth $10 billion to the local economy that were at various stages of delivery or assessment.
Those projects included an expansion of the ConocoPhillips Darwin LNG plant, potential mining of phosphate southeast of Tennant Creek, and the Mount Todd gold mine.
