Our story

We are the Government’s lead economic and financial adviser. We provide advice to the Government on its overarching economic framework, on its fiscal strategy and on achieving value for money from its investments.

We implement government decisions and are also responsible for the Financial Statements of the Government, for ensuring effective management of the assets and liabilities on the Crown’s balance sheet and for publishing economic and fiscal forecasts.

Our vision is to be a world-leading Treasury working towards higher living standards for New Zealanders. We want to grow wellbeing through improving the country’s human, social, natural and physical/financial capital. We work with others – across the government and non-government sectors, in New Zealand and overseas – to turn our vision into reality. We believe in applying rigorous analysis to the best available evidence, using our Living Standards Framework to guide us.

We embrace diversity and inclusion as they strengthen us, as individuals and as an organisation. Our values reflect our aspirations, for ourselves and for New Zealanders:

• bold and innovative, so that we understand how and when to take risks, learn from failures and build on successes
• collaborative and challenging, so that we work with others, collaborating but also challenging them and ourselves
• adaptable and focused, so that when the facts change, or ministerial priorities change, we don’t delay and we maintain our standards, and
• passionate and ambitious, for our performance, for our people and for New Zealand.

We believe in the importance of a trusted, professional, public service: our stewardship responsibilities embody kaitiakitanga; we work to support the Treaty partnership between the Crown and Māori; and we are transparent, objective, impartial and free and frank in our advice.