Strategic Direction
The Treasury's Vision and Outcomes
The Treasury's vision is to be a world class Treasury working towards higher living standards for New Zealanders.
While the Treasury recognises that there is a wide range of dimensions of economic and social life that affect living standards,[1] we have identified five key dimensions that are particularly important in the current environment.
Economic growth is at the top of the diagram both because of its importance for wellbeing and because, as the Government's lead economic and financial advisor, the Treasury has a particular focus on it. This is reflected in our outcome Improved Economic Performance.
However, for economic growth to be sustainable in the long term, without adverse side effects for society and the environment, New Zealand also needs to manage the wide range of risks it faces, such as natural hazards, climate change and resource shortages, and to consider the impact of today's choices on future living standards. The Treasury focuses in particular on risks to the stability and sustainability of the macroeconomic environment as reflected in our outcome A Stable and Sustainable Macroeconomic Environment.
While the Treasury has a particular role to play in advising the Government on the economic dimensions of living standards, we are committed to ensuring we understand the implications on the other Living Standards dimensions in achieving our Improved Economic Performance and A Stable and Sustainable Macroeconomic Environment outcomes. We wish to pursue policies thatpromote equitable and sustainable economic growth – what we refer to as “goodgrowth”policies.
Finally, living standards are underpinned by social infrastructure. The level of trust in key institutions (such as government, the law), the degree of connectedness between people (such as social support, sense of community) and the equity with which opportunities are spread across society, all have an impact on wellbeing. Many State sector agencies materially affect the social infrastructure and equity of our society, and the Treasury sees the performance of the State sector (its efficiency, effectiveness and affordability) and its impact on people as the provider of services (eg, education and health services), as a regulator (eg, regulation of financial services and natural resources), and as an owner (eg, schools, hospitals, SOEs), as important for lifting living standards. This is reflected in our outcome A Higher Performing State Sector that New Zealanders Trust, Delivering Outstanding Results and Value for Money.
The Treasury's three outcomes are interconnected and mutually reinforcing (see diagram below).
