Radical rethink for Budget
The economic forecasts underpinning Thursday's Budget will need to differ substantially from those the Treasury offered in its half-year update six months ago.
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Latest fromGovernment Spending
Govt's coffers grow as spending is kept in check
Three-quarters of the way through the Government's financial year its revenue continues to grow steadily while spending has hardly increased at all.
Government deficit smaller than forecast
The government kept a smaller operating deficit than forecast in the first nine months of the financial year, even as the cost of the Canterbury earthquakes grew.
NZ benefit numbers drop
The Government says there are 29,000 fewer Kiwis receiving benefits since the last quarter - including hundreds who had theirs cut after being caught claiming them unfairly.
Brian Fallow: 50 year forecast likely to be scary
We can expect some scary numbers when the Treasury updates its statement on the long-term fiscal position this year, writes Brian Fallow.
Crown deficit smaller than forecast
The New Zealand government had a smaller operating deficit than expected in the first eight months of the financial year as it took in more income tax than it had forecast.
Kiwi R&D spending on the rise
New Zealand's research and development spend rose to $2.6b last year but remains far below many other OECD countries as a proportion of GDP.
Aucklanders hog seniors' subsidy
Half of the $21.4 million spent on SuperGold Card public transport last year was in Auckland, although it is home to only one quarter of the country's senior citizens.
Justin Vaughan: New medical treatments must prove their value
The news the Govt is looking to reduce access to certain elective surgical procedures is likely to raise the blood pressure of many across the country, writes Dr Justin Vaughan.
Rock stars of NZ business world
This has been another testing year for New Zealand businesses as they rock along the decade of "grumpy growth".
Doubts over charter schools
Newly released Treasury papers show it was sceptical about the chances charter schools will improve student performance .
Obama ploy could avert fiscal cliff
Economists and psychologists have long been engaged in understanding behaviour when compromise and self-interest collide, writes Ananish Chauduri.
Editorial: Sacred cows fair game as Govt clings to surplus
Editorial: Ultimately, this revenue-raising exercise may be less significant than the check on the Government's spending programme.
Editorial: Remedies for child poverty step in the right direction
Editorial: When the Children's Commissioner set up an "expert advisory group on solutions to child poverty" this year, many New Zealanders will have cheered.
Stephen Diver: Germany showing way ahead
For the past two years a gleeful band of Eurosceptics in the Anglo-US political establishment have been arguing that the euro cannot survive.
Deborah Hill Cone: It's hard to balance books and life
Bratty middle-class me got my knickers in a twist when I had my resident's carpark taken away - boo hoo.
Deficit cut, but still higher than forecast
The Government ended the last financial year with a deficit that was about half of what it was last year, but more than the billion shortfall signalled in the May Budget.
Should we act on the high NZ dollar?
Most agree that the kiwi is overvalued and some say the solution is for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates. But two differing perspectives argue it's not that simple. Add your comment to the debate.
Orchestra funding strikes the wrong note
The battle over public funding for our major orchestras has all the ingredients of comic opera, if not farce.