A day after the release of the federal budget, the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) matched expectations on May 14 by revealing that its forecast nominal benchmark bond issuance task for 2014-15 is in the region of A$63 billion (US$58.9 billion) – down from the A$80 billion expected for 2013-14. The figure will be supplemented by A$4 billion of inflation-linked issuance, also down from the A$5 billion expected in the current year.