New Zealand Economic and Financial Overview 2013

This Economic and Financial Overview provides a description of New Zealand based on information available up to the end of January 2013. Fiscal and economic forecasts are based on the material contained in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update published in December 2012. A full set of revised forecasts will be published in the Government's Budget on 16 May 2013.

The delivery of this document at any time does not imply that the information is correct as of any time subsequent to its date. This document does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of New Zealand.

Table of Contents

New Zealand: An Overview

• Area and Population
• Form of Government
• Social Framework
• The Treaty of Waitangi
• Foreign Relations and External Trade
• Environmental Policy
• Selected Economic and Financial Data

Economy

• Introduction
• Recent Economic Performance and Outlook
• Monetary Policy
• Fiscal Policy
• Public Debt
• National Accounts
• Prices and Costs
• Labour Markets

Industrial Structure and Principal Economic Sectors

• Primary Industries
• Manufacturing
• Service Industries

External Sector

• External Trade
• Composition of Merchandise Exports and Imports
• Geographic Distribution of External Trade
• Principal Trading Partners
• Foreign Investment Policy
• Balance of Payments
• Foreign-Exchange Rates
• Overseas Reserves

Banking and Business Environment

• Supervision of the Financial Sector
• Business Law Environment

Monetary Policy

• Interest Rates and Money and Credit Aggregates

Public Finance and Fiscal Policy

• Public Finance
• Current Fiscal Position and 2012 Budget
• Taxation

Government Enterprises

• State-Owned Enterprises and Crown Entities
• Partial Sale of Selected SOEs
• Crown Entities
• Performance of Government Enterprises

Public Debt

• Debt Management Objectives
• Debt Record
• Summary of Direct Public Debt

Further information

Unless otherwise specified, all monetary units in this Overview are New Zealand dollars. The mid-point rate on 31 January 2013 was NZ$1 = US$0.8359.

The fiscal year of the Government of New Zealand ends on 30 June.

Spelling and punctuation conform to usage in New Zealand and have not been adjusted to conform to usage in the United States or any particular external market.

Where figures in tables have been rounded, totals listed may not equal the sum of the figures.

In tables, NA = Not Available.