Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the 11 Months Ended 31 May 2012

The Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the 11 months ended 31 May 2012 were released by the Treasury today.

The monthly financial statements are compared against monthly forecast tracks based on the 2012 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on 24 May 2012.

The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) deficit remains large, at $5.9 billion, but was $1.1 billion or 16.0 % lower than forecast. This positive difference was due to tax revenue for the 11 months to 31 May being higher than forecast and core Crown expenses being below forecast.

Core Crown tax revenue was $667 million or 1.3% higher than expected. The two main components were corporate tax and GST, at $389 million and $192 million more respectively.

In a similar trend to last month, the difference in corporate tax continues to relate to terminal tax assessments and Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) tax both being approximately $200 million higher than Budget estimates. Corporate tax is now expected to remain above forecast through to the end of the 2011/12 fiscal year.

GST was ahead of forecast to 31 May with private consumption higher than expected.

Core Crown expenditure was within 1% of that forecast at $62.0 billion.

While the OBEGAL deficit was below forecast by $1.1 billion, actuarial losses on ACC's insurance liabilities were $1.7 billion greater than expected. Including these losses led to an operating balance deficit of $10.9 billion, $820 million higher than expected.

At 31 May, net debt stood at $49.6 billion, which was 24.6% of GDP. Gross debt stood at $79.7 billion, or 39.5% of GDP.


$ million	May 2012 Actual¹	May 2012 BEFU Forecast¹	Variance to BEFU $m	Variance to BEFU %	June 2012 BEFU Forecast²
	Year to date				Full Year
Core Crown
Core Crown tax revenue	50,537	49,870	667	1.3	54,741
Core Crown revenue	55,220	54,531	689	1.3	60,031
Core Crown expenses	61,969	62,400	431	0.7	69,633
Core Crown residual cash	(9,872)	(10,805)	933	8.6	(12,119)
Gross debt³	79,713	78,473	(1,240)	(1.6)	80,142
as a percentage of GDP	*39.5%*	38.8%			38.5%
Net debt⁴	49,649	50,636	987	1.9	51,921
as a percentage of GDP	*24.6%*	25.1%			25.0%
Total Crown
Operating balance before gains and losses	(5,912)	(7,041)	1,129	16.0	(8,441)
Operating balance	(10,943)	(10,123)	(820)	(8.1)	(10,642)
Net worth	70,147	70,793	(646)	(0.9)	70,303

1 Using GDP for the year ended 31 March 2012 of $202,054 million (Source: Statistics New Zealand)
2 Using forecast GDP for the year ended 30 June 2012 of $207,987 million (Source: Treasury)
3 Gross sovereign-issued debt excluding settlement cash and Reserve Bank bills
4 Net core Crown debt excluding student loans and other advances

ENDS

Officer for Enquiries

Nicky Haslam | Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accountant Portfolio
Tel: +64 4 917 6943
Email: [email protected]