Reporting on COVID-19 Specific Appropriations

This data release captures and reports on expenditure incurred in relation to new appropriations established as part of the Government's response to COVID-19, up until 30 June 2022. It includes expenditure incurred on initiatives announced on 17 March 2020 and subsequent initiatives that have been funded through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF).   

The below table shows the cumulative expenditure incurred from the beginning of the pandemic response through to 30 June 2022 against new appropriations with expenditure over $100m. This list includes both capital and operating expenditure.

Not all the initiatives introduced by the Government have resulted in the establishment of a new appropriation or require an appropriation.

Some initiatives represented an extension of existing government activities and fell within existing appropriations. Expenditure incurred under pre-existing appropriations is not captured in this data release. For example, some funding received by Vote Education (such as funding to support mental health and wellbeing and funding to expand Ka Ora Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches Programme) and some funding received by Vote Health (all non-immunisation related expenditure in 2019/20, as well as a portion of non-immunisation related expenditure in 2020/21 and 2021/22) was incurred against existing appropriations and is therefore not captured in the data release.

Some initiatives introduced provided tax relief to taxpayers, which results in a reduction in tax revenue rather than an increase in expenditure to the Crown, therefore no appropriation is necessary.

The amount appropriated (and the amount of expenditure incurred) may differ from the amount managed against the CRRF.

For each initiative, the net expected fiscal cost (as estimated at the time the decision is made) on net core Crown debt is managed against the CRRF.

The amount appropriated represents the authority to incur expenditure (either operating or capital) rather than the net expected fiscal cost on net core Crown debt. In some cases, the appropriated amount and net expected fiscal cost will be the same. For others these two figures will be different. Two examples of this are: Loans to Air New Zealand (where expected repayments reduce the expected fiscal cost on net core Crown debt but not the appropriated amount) and the Small Business Cashflow Scheme (where valuation losses from the loans require an appropriation but do not have a fiscal cost on net core Crown debt and where repayments are also expected).

Details of where Non-financial Performance Information in respect of these appropriations will be or has been reported can be found in the relevant Estimates documents.

Care should be taken when analysing the cumulative additional Supplementary Estimates figures (the 2020, 2021 and 2022 figures added together). Please note that the same authority may exist in more than one year - for example, $1bn of funding for the "Business Support Subsidy Covid-19" appropriation was transferred from 2019/20 to the 2020/21 year subsequent to the passing of the Appropriation (Supplementary Estimates) Act for 2019/20. This means that the funding that was transferred is included in both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 Supplementary Estimates figures.