The Federal Government has suffered a whopping $115 billion fall in revenue due to the global recession, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, announced today.

Speaking in Canberra after the full ministry was briefed on the state of the nation's finances, Mr Rudd said the plunge had caused the budget to go into deficit.

He did not say how big the deficit was but promised the Government would release updated budget figures in the next few weeks and not wait until the May budget.