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Media statement

Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the Four Months ended 31 October 2016

Issue date: 
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Status: 
Current
Corporate author: 
The Treasury
View point: 
The Treasury
Publication category: 
News/media
Copyright: 
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Paul Helm, Chief Government Accountant

The Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the four months ended 31 October 2016 were released by the Treasury today.  The statements are compared against forecasts based on the 2016 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) published on 26 May 2016. As the Kaikōura earthquakes occurred after 31 October, none of the effects of these earthquakes are included in these financial statements.

The results for the four months to the end of October show an operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) deficit of $131 million which was $934 million better than forecast, largely due to higher than forecast core Crown revenue.

Core Crown tax revenue at $23.2 billion, was $671 million or 3.0% higher than forecast and $1.1 billion higher than for the same period last year.  Higher than forecast provisional tax and portfolio investment entity tax led to higher than expected forecast corporate tax ($300 million).  While private consumption was close to forecast, residential investment and inbound tourist spending were both above forecast contributing to higher than forecast GST ($275 million).

Core Crown expenses were close to forecast at $25.3 billion.

When combined with the OBEGAL result, higher than forecast net gains of $2,305 million, largely from NZS Fund investment returns ($870 million) and ACC actuarial gains ($1,711 million) resulted in an operating balance surplus of $2,997 million, $3,224 million higher than forecast.

Core Crown residual cash was a deficit of $490 million, $1,573 million lower than forecast, primarily reflecting higher than expected core Crown tax receipts of $1,529 million.  As a consequence, net debt was $1,752 million lower than expected at 24.8% of GDP.

At 31 October 2016, total Crown assets were valued at $291.0 billion and liabilities were $192.9 billion while the Crown’s share of net worth stood at $92.3 billion.

$ million Year to date Full Year
October
2016
Actual1		 October
2016
BEFU 16
Forecast1		 Variance
 to
BEFU 16
$m		 Variance
 to
BEFU 16
%		 June
2017
BEFU 16
Forecast2
Core Crown          
Core Crown tax revenue 23,157 22,486 671 3.0 71,971
Core Crown revenue 25,423 24,616 807 3.3 78,544
Core Crown expenses 25,299 25,497 198 0.8 77,388
Core Crown residual cash (490) (2,063) 1,573 76.2 (4,162)
Gross debt3 87,777 88,903 1,126 1.3 93,880
as a percentage of GDP 34.9% 35.3%     36.2%
Net debt4 62,549 64,301 1,752 2.7 66,334
as a percentage of GDP 24.8% 25.5%     25.6%
Total Crown          
Operating balance before gains and losses (131) (1,065) 934 87.7 719
Operating balance 2,997 (227) 3,224 -  3,058
Net worth attributable to the Crown 92,318 83,216 9,102 10.9 86,641
  1. Using the most recently published GDP (for the year ended 30 June 2016) of $251,760 million (Source: Statistics New Zealand).
  2. Using forecast GDP for the year ending 30 June 2016 of $259,208 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. Net debt may fluctuate during the year largely reflecting the timing of tax receipts.

ENDS

Officer for Enquiries

Jayne Winfield | Office of the Government Accountant
Tel: +64 4 890 7205
Email: [email protected]
Last updated: 
Monday, 6 March 2017