Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison is expected to unveil a slight $23 billion improvement to Australia's national debt in Monday's half-year update to the Budget.
The treasurer may also flag a cap on university places to reduce the government's spending on higher education.
The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) will be released about 12.15pm on Monday.
Australia's national debt was previously forecast to hit $606 billion by the 2020-21 financial year, but reports suggest the forecast would be revised down by $23 billion to $583 billion.
Presenting the MYEFO documents to cameras ahead of the announcement, Mr Morrison said it was "great to be turning the debt ship around".
But leading independent economist Saul Eslake said the minor reduction was "more of a presentational thing".
"It's very helpful from the government's point of view, given they want to get the level of debt down," Mr Eslake told ABC TV on Monday morning ahead of the MYEFO release.
"The impact on the economy of having $20 billion less of debt than previously forecast is fairly small."
Fellow economist Chris Richardson said the lower debt prediction was mostly thanks to an improving Chinese economy.
The promise of a surplus by mid-2021 is expected to remain intact.
"The mid-year update ... will show that the Turnbull Government is continuing to deliver on our prudent and responsible economic management, staying the course to keep expenditure under control and return the budget back to balance," Mr Morrison told AAP.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has flagged income tax cuts in 2018, but it is not known whether there will be any news of this released in the MYEFO.
The government may also flag further action to tackle spending on universities. Earlier this year, the Senate voted down cuts to university funding.
Some reports are predicting the government may adopt a new cap on the number of university places to reduce the number of government-supported loans.
Labor has already expressed its scepticism.
"The test for Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and Mathias Cormann in MYEFO will be whether or not they've learned from previous failed budgets where they've prioritised big business over middle Australia," shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and Labor's finance spokesman Jim Chalmers said.
