Crown accounts still beating forecasts by billions

Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Treasury says the Crown Accounts for the six months to the end of December were better than forecast in its December's Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU).

Tax revenue was $1.5 billion above forecast at $51 billion, due to better-than-expected corporate profits and GST returns, while core Crown expenses stood at $62.9 billion, $0.7 billion below the HYEFU forecast.

The Operating Balance before Gains and Losses (OBEGAL) deficit at $8.0 billion was $2.8 billion lower than that forecast in HYEFU.

Net core Crown debt stood at 36.8 per cent of GDP, in line with forecasts.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said "better-than-expected" result showed the strength of the economy as restrictions in response to the Delta outbreak were eased.

However the Crown Accounts have tracked well ahead of Treasury forecasts since the beginning of the pandemic, prompting some opposition politicians to question the accuracy of forecasts.

"This gives us the fiscal headroom to continue our balanced approach to meet the costs of Omicron while continuing to deal with long standing challenges such as climate change, housing and child wellbeing," Robertson said.

Yesterday he announced that Budget 2022 will be delivered on Thursday May 19.

The focus would be on the Government's heath reforms and investing to meet climate change goals, the Finance Minister said.

New Zealand went into Covid-19 with a number of longstanding issues that needed to be addressed, regardless of the global pandemic, he said.

It would be irresponsible to acknowledge that our health system needs improvement, based on the lessons from Covid, but then not do anything about it, he said.