Displaying 1 - 24 of 237 results.

The Government’s operating deficit before gains and losses narrowed for the third consecutive year to $2.9 billion in the 12 months to 30 June – down from $4.4 billion the previous year, Finance Minister Bill English says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

Finance Minister Bill English leaves tomorrow for the United States, where he will attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank governors in Washington DC.

He will also meet G20 finance ministers. Australia, as host of the G20 this year, has invited New Zealand to attend a series of meetings as a guest alongside the G20 members.

“The meetings in Washington will provide further opportunities to assess latest global economic developments and their likely impact on New Zealand,” Mr English says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

Government officials are working with Solid Energy to extend the company’s remediation indemnity, which will meet the future costs of returning the company’s mining land to its pre-mined condition, Finance Minister Bill English and State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall say.

“This will extend a similar remediation agreement made in 1987. It will strengthen Solid Energy’s equity position and ensure that it can effectively rehabilitate land after its mining has been completed,” Mr English says.

  • Tony Ryall
  • Bill English
  • State Owned Enterprises
  • Finance

New Zealand is on track to Budget surplus this year, backed by good growth, more jobs and higher incomes under the Government’s economic programme, according to Treasury’s Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update issued today.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

The Data Futures Forum has delivered a range of thought-provoking recommendations on the use of data in New Zealand, Finance Minister Bill English and Statistics Minister Nicky Wagner say.

The forum, an advisory group comprising public and private sector experts, delivered its third and final report to the Government today.

“It shows New Zealand has the opportunity to be a world leader in the sharing of data held by government, with high ethical and privacy standards,” Mr English says.

  • Nicky Wagner
  • Bill English
  • Statistics
  • Finance

The Government says it is accepting nearly all of the recommendations the Productivity Commission has made on ways to improve local regulations.

“The quality of local regulation impacts significantly on New Zealand’s economic and social wellbeing.  It affects all aspects of our lives from resource and building consents through to food safety and liquor licensing,” says Regulatory Reform Minister, Bill English.

  • Paula Bennett
  • Bill English
  • Regulatory Reform
  • Local Government

Long-term welfare dependency is reducing and more young people are achieving higher qualifications under the Government’s Better Public Services initiative, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and State Services Minister Jonathan Coleman say.

The Government today published the July update of BPS targets, which confirms more good progress in tackling some of the most challenging issues facing New Zealanders, however making headway in other areas is slower, Mr English says.

  • Jonathan Coleman
  • Bill English
  • State Services
  • Deputy Prime Minister

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey will visit New Zealand between 21 and 23 July – his first visit to this country since becoming Treasurer last year, Finance Minister Bill English says.

“I’m looking forward to hosting Mr Hockey for our annual bilateral meeting,” Mr English says. “We’ve enjoyed a strong and positive personal relationship going back a number of years and I’m looking forward to catching up with him once again.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

Finance Minister Bill English will attend the B20 forum in Sydney this week, where around 300 business leaders from around the world will finalise private sector policy recommendations for the G20 leaders’ summit later this year.

Australia, as host of the G20 this year, has invited New Zealand to attend as a guest alongside the G20 members.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings’ decision to revise New Zealand’s AA sovereign rating outlook from stable to positive is a vote of confidence in the New Zealand economy and the Government’s programme, Finance Minister Bill English says.

The positive outlook, which was announced overnight, indicates the likely direction of the credit rating over the next year or two, although it is not confirmation that a change will occur.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

The Government’s latest monthly financial accounts confirm that achieving a surplus in 2014/15 requires a determined focus on careful spending and responsible economic management, Finance Minister Bill English says.

“Just as the Government’s careful fiscal stewardship has taken New Zealand within sight of fiscal surplus in the coming year, the last thing we need is a return to big government spending programmes that would crowd out private investment and put that surplus in jeopardy,” he says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

New Zealand was one of only six developed economies in which both income inequality and disposable income inequality was flat or slightly better between 2007 and 2011, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In its latest report, which looks at the impact of the global financial crisis  on inequality across 33 developed economies, the OECD confirms New Zealand performed relatively well through the GFC and its aftermath, Finance Minister Bill English says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

The Treasury’s total costs for the Government’s share offer programme were $85.5 million – or 1.83 per cent of the $4.67 billion in total proceeds, Finance Minister Bill English and State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall say.

This is slightly below the 2 per cent estimate made at the start of the programme, which excluded costs to the share offer companies themselves and the cost of incentives to New Zealand retail investors.

  • Tony Ryall
  • Bill English
  • State Owned Enterprises
  • Finance

Economic growth picked up to 3.8 per cent in the year to 31 March, providing further evidence that the Government’s economic programme is taking New Zealand in the right direction, Finance Minister Bill English says.

Statistics New Zealand today reported gross domestic product expanded by 1.0 per cent in the March quarter – the third consecutive quarter of 1 per cent or more growth.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

Waikato-based company director Tania Simpson has been appointed to the board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Finance Minister Bill English says.

Ms Simpson is of Tainui, Ngāi Tahu and Ngāpuhi descent, and is the founding director of Māori policy advisory firm Kōwhai Consulting Ltd.  She is currently a director of Mighty River Power Ltd, AgResearch Ltd and is also a member of the Waitangi Tribunal.  She will shortly retire as a director of Landcare Research. 

  • Bill English
  • Finance

The Government’s comprehensive Business Growth Agenda is delivering greater business investment, more jobs and higher wages for New Zealanders, Finance Minister Bill English and Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce say.

The two lead ministers today released the Business Growth Agenda – Future Direction 2014 report which outlines the significant progress the National Government has made in creating the conditions for businesses to invest for jobs and growth.

  • Steven Joyce
  • Bill English
  • Finance
  • Economic Development

New Zealand should expect strong and increasingly broad-based economic growth, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest report on New Zealand, published today.

The IMF is forecasting annual economic growth in New Zealand to peak at 3.5 per cent this year and not fall below 2.5 per cent over the next few years.  This growth will be driven by strong construction activity, higher prices for exports and increases in net migration.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

The Government’s finances are largely in line with Budget forecasts in the ten months to 30 April, Finance Minister Bill English says.

The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) deficit was $1.371 billion for the period – $148 million lower than forecast in Budget 2014.

“These results confirm Treasury’s Budget forecasts which showed that we are on track to a modest surplus of $372 million next year, increasing to $3.49 billion in 2017/18,” Mr English says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

New data indicates New Zealand’s income tax and support system continues to provide significant income redistribution, with households earning more than $150,000 a year forecast to pay 74 per cent of net income tax in 2014/15, compared with 58 per cent in 2008/09.

“Four years after the Government’s comprehensive tax reforms, latest data confirms that New Zealand’s income tax and support system significantly redistribute incomes to households in need,” Finance Minister Bill English says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance

The Government has agreed in principle to establish a new entity that will work with social housing providers to better meet demand, Finance Minister Bill English and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith say.

“Our plan is to grow and diversify the social housing sector in New Zealand,” Mr English says. “We recognise that most options to do this will have significant implications, so it is important that we fully understand them to get the right options progressed.

  • Nick Smith
  • Bill English
  • Housing
  • Finance

Mr Speaker,

I move that the Appropriation (2014/15 Estimates) Bill be now read a second time.

It’s a privilege to deliver the National-led Government’s sixth Budget.

It’s a particular privilege because this is the first Budget in six years to focus on managing a growing economy rather than recovering from a domestic recession and then the global financial crisis.

A growing economy supports employment and higher wages. It provides opportunities for families. And it pays for public services that New Zealanders rely on.

  • Bill English
  • Finance
  • Budget 2014

The success of the Government’s share offer programme provides a further $1 billion of new capital investment in Budget 2014 without the need to borrow more from overseas lenders, Finance Minister Bill English says.

“The share sale proceeds saw $4.7 billion go to the Future Investment Fund and we said we would spend $1 billion of that on schools, and a further $1 billion on health,” he says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance
  • Budget 2014

Housing initiatives in Budget 2014 will lower the cost of housing, improve access to social housing for vulnerable families, and support the growing economy, Finance Minister Bill English says.

The Budget’s housing package temporarily removes tariffs and duties on building materials covering 90 per cent of a new home’s construction, provides new funding to increase the community housing sector, and increases administrative support for social housing tenants.

  • Bill English
  • Finance
  • Budget 2014

The Government has confirmed it will stick to its $1 billion new operating allowance in Budget 2014 and the allowance will increase to $1.5 billion in Budget 2015, Finance Minister Bill English says.

The allowance will then increase by 2 per cent each Budget.

“These modest increases in spending meet the Government’s objective of reducing net debt to 20 per cent of GDP by 2020, and will not materially affect interest rates,” Mr English says.

  • Bill English
  • Finance
  • Budget 2014