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Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said the surplus was the result of the government’s COVID-19 economic recovery plan and its savings strategy.Credit:Atilla Csazar

However,the figure has been revised up to $4.3 billion on the back of better-than-expected earnings from land tax,payroll tax and GST.

“The $4.3 billion surplus is the largest Queensland surplus on record,” Dick told state parliament on Tuesday.

“In extraordinary times ... this is an extraordinary result.”

Dick said the surplus was the result of the government’s COVID-19 economic recovery plan and its savings strategy to better manage spending.

The $2.4 billion improvement in the bottom line came from both higher revenue and lower expenditure,he said.

Dick said income from stamp duty and payroll tax were $510 million higher than expected on the back of a strong housing and labour market.

General government-sector borrowing was $393 million lower than forecast and net borrowing was $13.75 billion less than expected.

The Treasurer said part of the increased surplus had been transferred to the Housing Investment Fund,the balance of which doubled to $2 billion last week.

The government said it would use returns from that fund to build 5600 new social and affordable homes by 2027 on top of the 6365 promised by 2025.

“Our government has now delivered six budget surpluses,but we don’t deliver budget surpluses for their own sake,we put them to work to deliver services and jobs for the people of Queensland and we are going to put this budget surplus to work as well,” Dick said.

– AAP