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Bill English - Source: ONE News
Finance Minister Bill English says the government will continue to focus on keeping a tight rein on finances in the May 20 Budget.
English says it is important that Crown finances return to surplus as soon as possible.
His comments come after Treasury figures showed a government deficit of $630 million, though this was $1.4 billion better than forecast.
"Surpluses give us choices. With another six years of forecast Budget deficits and net Crown debt forecast to treble to $65 billion by 2014, we won't have those choices for some time," English says.
He says the government will operate within the $1.1 billion allowance for new spending it committed to in last year's Budget. Most government agencies, he says, will receive no new money.
"This is not a one-off exercise - and will need to continue for years to come if we are to get the government's books back into good shape and bring borrowing under control."
And, English says some of the gains that have showed up in the latest Crown accounts may be reversed in coming months.
"In the context of the much bigger fiscal challenges we face over the next few years, they are really just incremental improvements," he says.
Meanwhile, Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway says the latest Crown accounts show that the government has talked up New Zealand's fiscal problems to a greater extent than needed.
He says last year New Zealand had the third lowest gross debt in the OECD and the fifth lowest net debt.
The union says while the government still has a significant borrowing programme, it says more than half of it is repayment of debt, and that the government needs to be clear about that.
New Zealand's gross debt stands at $48.8 billion or 26.4% of
GDP.
