WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s budget surplus was larger than expected in the year through June, the Treasury Department said, as political parties vie to form a new government.
The operating surplus was NZ$4.07 billion ($2.9 billion) in the year ended June 30, final government figures published Thursday in Wellington show. That’s up from NZ$1.83 billion last year and the Treasury’s NZ$3.71 billion projection published in an Aug. 23 pre-election update.
“This better result should be seen as a one-off,” Finance Minister Steven Joyce said in a statement. The increase should be “interpreted with caution, and not seen as automatically flowing through into higher surpluses than forecast in the years ahead,” he said.
Both the ruling National Party and main opposition Labour Party pledged more spending on families and core services in the lead-up to the Sept. 23 general election, which left neither side able to form a government. Preliminary talks to win the backing of the New Zealand First Party, which holds the balance of power, began Thursday.
While expenses were lower than indicated in August, that reflected delays on some capital projects that are likely to occur in 2017-18 and the overall fiscal position hasn’t changed significantly, Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf told a briefing. He said tax revenue was little different from the August projections.
In August, the Treasury projected a NZ$2.87 billion surplus in the current year through June 2018, widening to NZ$3.52 billion in 2018-19. Today’s report contains no forecasts.
