Budget 2013: What you need to know

The main points of the 2013 New Zealand Budget:

* Urgent legislation to cut through red tape and speed house-building in areas where homes are least affordable - and not just in Auckland.

* A memorandum of understanding with Reserve Bank for measures to curb accelerating house prices and avoid fuelling boom-bust cycles in wider economy.

* Big reductions in ACC levies - but businesses and households will have to wait for one or two years before they take effect.

* Meridian Energy confirmed as next state company to undergo partial privatisation.

* $100 million package to help businesses to operate internationally.

* Tenancy reviews to be extended to all occupants of state houses.

* Government to use bulk purchasing power to buy cheaper whiteware for beneficiaries.

* Start-up companies making losses able to claim refunds tax losses on research and development.

THE GOVERNMENT'S BOOKS

* A $75 million surplus in two years' time after years of Budget deficits.

* The rebuilding of Christchurch to swallow up $900 million of $1.7 billion proceeds from partial float of Mighty River Power.

* Slightly more money for new Government spending initiatives this year than originally flagged, but slightly less for next year's Budget than signalled previously.

* Resumption of Government contributions to New Zealand Superannuation Fund delayed for two years until 2020.

THE ECONOMY

* Economic growth to average 2 to 3 per cent over next four years.

* Unemployment forecast to fall from 6.7 per cent in 2012 to 5.2 per cent in 2017.

* Interest rates to rise slowly, with rates on 90-day bank bills moving up from current 2.7 per cent to 4.8 per cent in 2017.

* Wages to grow by two to three per cent a year over next four years.