WELLINGTON – New Zealand’s government on Thursday increased income support and promised significant investment in the health sector while forecasting that returning the budget to surplus would take longer than previously forecast.
The deficit for the current financial year, ending on June 30, will be narrower than previously forecast.
Heavy spending was targeted towards infrastructure, including new schools, and defense, while funds were also allocated to ease the impact of global inflation on New Zealanders.
The highlight was billions of New Zealand dollars in new funding for the country’s health system, which will, among other things, see more funding for drugs and infrastructure.
“As the pandemic subsides, other challenges both long-term and more immediate, have come to the fore. This Budget responds to those challenges,” Prime Minister JacindaArdern said in a statement.
“COVID-19, climate change and the war in Ukraine have taught us we need to build a more secure economy that protects New Zealand households from the external shocks we know are coming,” she added. Ardern was not at the release of the budget as she currently has COVID.
The government predicted a budget deficit of NZ$18.978 billion ($11.97 billion) for 2021/22, narrower than a deficit of NZ$20.844 billion forecast in a half-year fiscal update in December. However, the government now expects the budget to surplus in 2024/25, a year later that previously forecast. – Reuters
