Here is the full statement below from Finance Minister Bill English announcing the budget date:
He repeated comments made by Prime Minister John Key in his state of the nation address two weeks ago about targeting a budget surplus in 2014/15, a year earlier than previously forecast, and about reducing new operating spending growth to NZ$800-900 million from NZ$1.1 billion.
Finance Minister Bill English today confirmed Budget 2011 will be delivered on Thursday, 19 May - focusing squarely on taking further measures to build New Zealand’s national savings and reducing vulnerability to foreign debt.
“In our first Budget, the National-led Government steered the economy out of recession and the global financial crisis, and mapped a credible path back to budget surplus,” Mr English says.
“In our second Budget last year, we made good progress in our six-point plan for faster economic growth – including the biggest tax reforms in 25 years.
“The theme of Budget 2011 will be about building savings and investment, because as a country we need to save more, spend a bit less and reduce our heavy reliance on foreign debt.
“The Government has already indicated that it intends to borrow less in future than is currently forecast and get back to budget surplus sooner.
“Therefore, the Budget this year will reduce new operating spending to around $800 million to $900 million a year, from the current allowance of $1.1 billion. We will prioritise new spending on health and education and set a path to meaningful surplus in 2014/15 – a year earlier than forecast.
“We’re also looking at options to better manage Government assets on behalf of taxpayers, so we can free up capital for substantial extra investment in assets like schools, faster broadband and better transport infrastructure – without having to borrow so heavily.
“Those options include the possibility of introducing the mixed-ownership model for four energy SOEs, where the Government retains a majority shareholding on behalf of taxpayers and offers a minority stake to Kiwi investors.
“We are seeking Treasury advice on this and will make our position clear to New Zealanders well before the election in November.”
5 Comments
"...the National-led Government steered the economy out of recession and the global financial crisis"......rubbish.....were it not for the Bernanke printing driving up commodities, the rural sector would be toast by now and the awful economy exposed for what it really is....heavily in debt and dependent on more QE from the Fed. Come the day the us bond rort spews its guts taking the markets down the hole and driving rates up...this economy will wake up to a nasty shock...no doubt Bill will not claim it to be his govt behind the collapse.
Curious how pollies spin things , Bill reckons that it is a good thing that the increase in gumnut spending is $ 800-900 million , instead of a projected $ 1100 million increase . How the feck is that good ? Not increasing spending at all would be good . Cutting it would be better ........
...... But the spendfest of Cullen , the Labour legacy , continues ........ And the borrowing is from foreigners , to support our welfare state .
Bloody hell !
A little digging around I found this. Treasury estimates:
Govt revenue = $58.4 billion
Govt expenditure = $70.5 billion
But the entire country's GDP = $119.2 Billion.
So if these figures are correct, then our government spends $12 billion more than it collects in tax from our citizens, and our Government is more than half the GDP of the whole country... ?? Is this right?
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