Treasury releases Statement on the long-term fiscal position

John Whitehead
Secretary to the Treasury

The Treasury today released its first Statement on the Long-term Fiscal Position.

In 2004, the Public Finance Act was amended to require the Treasury, at least once every four years, to prepare a Statement on the New Zealand government's long-term fiscal position. The Statement must look out over at least a 40-year horizon.

“The Statement is about New Zealand's long-term fiscal outlook and what drives it”, Secretary to the Treasury John Whitehead said.

The Minister of Finance will present the Statement to Parliament today.

“We see the purpose of the Statement as being to increase the quality and depth of public information and understanding about the long-term consequences of spending and revenue decisions. This will assist governments in making fiscally-sound decisions in the decades ahead.

“Preparing this Statement is not an end in itself. This Statement is a resource for policy makers, commentators and the general public. We hope that they will all find it a useful addition to the information they use in making policy choices," he said.

An electronic copy of the full Statement can be downloaded free of charge from the Treasury website: [http://www.treasury.govt.nz/government/longterm/fiscalposition/.]

ENDS