Key Budget speech due today

John Key. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Prime Minister John Key is set to deliver a pre-budget speech in Wellington this afternoon.

Yesterday he said there would be more money for health and education, but very little for other areas.

His comments came as the last update of the crown accounts ahead of the May 28 budget were released. They continued to paint a grim picture with falling revenue, growing costs and ballooning debt.

Also yesterday a new UMR Research survey showed New Zealanders were still pessimistic about the future of the economy with a third thinking things would get seriously worse or even lead to depression.

Key said the budget would not be all gloom.

"I wouldn't describe it as black, in fact we are spending a lot of extra money on health and education, but beyond that there is not a lot more to go around," said Key.

Finance Minister Bill English said he would be scaling back some of the spending promises made by Labour, but there would still be increases.

The UMR Research survey asked 750 adults their views about the impact of the global financial crisis.

One in three thought its impact on New Zealand would worsen and 33 per cent said it would get a lot worse or lead to a depression.

Over half, 55 per cent, thought it would take more than a year before the economy improved with 41 per cent saying it would be sooner.

The views are better than a survey in January in which 92 per cent thought things would get worse with 41 per cent picking a lot worse or depression.

The biggest change since the January survey was increased concern about unemployment.

The figure who thought unemployment the most important issue rocketed from 3 to 19 per cent.

- NZPA