Welcome from John Whitehead, Secretary to the Treasury

Page updated 1 Nov 2007

Welcome to the web site of the New Zealand Treasury.

Established in 1840, the Treasury is one of New Zealand’s oldest institutions. Initially the Treasury consisted of just a few officials responsible for managing the Government’s day-to-day financial affairs. Today the Treasury employs just over 300 people, is the Government’s lead advisor on economic and financial policy, and has the overall vision of helping governments achieve higher living standards for all New Zealanders.

The Treasury focuses its efforts on a number of key results that support the government’s goals and have a positive impact of the lives of New Zealanders. These outcomes - economic growth, macroeconomic stability and state sector performance are closely linked.

The Treasury is also one of three central agencies – the others are the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the  State Services Commission – responsible for providing leadership, coordination and monitoring across the entire public sector.

Through this site, we aim to make our work more accessible to anyone who has an interest, including students, public sector agencies, academics and researchers, the media and economic and financial analysts. To that end, the site contains a wealth of information on various aspects of the Treasury’s work, including information on the Budget, the New Zealand economy, the State Sector, and the full range of Treasury publications.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further information on our work or would like to provide some feedback on the site.

In the meantime, I hope you find this site a valuable "window on the world" of the New Zealand Treasury.

John Whitehead
Chief Executive and Secretary to the Treasury