The Treasury is required by legislation to prepare four stewardship documents. Together, the reports help orient policy and finances toward long term, intergenerational wellbeing outcomes.
Our four stewardship reports
The Public Finance Act 1989 (PFA) requires the Treasury to produce three stewardship reports, each on a four-year cycle:
- Long-term Fiscal Statement (LTFS).
- Investment Statement (IS).
- Wellbeing Report (WBR).
In addition, the Public Service Act 2020 (PSA) requires all departments, including the Treasury, to publish within a three-year, ongoing window a:
- Long-term Insights Briefing (LTIB).
There is more information on each of the Treasury’s four stewardship reports below, as well as links to recent reports.
Upcoming stewardship reporting
The Treasury will next be delivering stewardship reports in 2025. We have three stewardship reports to be delivered in 2025 and one in 2026:
~ June 2025
- Long-term Insights Briefing (LTIB)
~ Late 2025
- Long-term Fiscal Statement (LTFS).
- Investment Statement (IS).
~ End 2026
- Wellbeing Report (WBR).
Themes likely to be explored in upcoming stewardship reporting
The Treasury's 2025 suite of stewardship reports are intended to support a sustained public and political discussion on long-term fiscal objectives to support high living standards for all New Zealanders.
There are several challenges to New Zealand’s fiscal sustainability. The population is steadily ageing, climate change is leading to rising sea levels and more frequent adverse weather events, productivity growth is slowing and higher levels of public and private investment into infrastructure will be required in the future. These challenges are dynamic and can fluctuate due to slow-moving trends or fast-changing shocks.
Our suite of stewardship reports will cover three objectives for fiscal policy:
- How government levers can and do stabilise the economy in future shocks.
- How to sustain a balance between revenue and expenditure over time, especially as the costs of an ageing population and from climate change steadily expand.
- The final choice cuts across the other two and is about the structure – the mix and quality - of government revenue and expenditure. It is about how much responsibility individuals take versus how much is provided collectively. This covers who pays, when, and who benefits.
Each of the three stewardships reports will take a different angle, reflecting its distinct legislative objectives, contributing to an overarching fiscal narrative across these three key choices:
- The topic of the Treasury’s 2025 LTIB is sustainable and resilient fiscal policy over economic cycles. It will explore if, when and how fiscal policy can be used to buffer the economy from shocks and cycles, and how to do so in a sustainable way.
- The 2025 LTFS will explore the implications of ageing and climate change for New Zealand’s fiscal sustainability and the choices available to successive governments to return to a fiscally sustainable path. Our Chief Economist, Dominick Stephens, previewed some of these issues in a recent speech: Longevity and the public purse - Speech delivered by Dominick Stephens, Chief Economic Advisor - 26 September 2024
- The Investment Statement will explore issues around the prudent investment and management of our balance sheet to continue to lift living standards across generations.
The Treasury’s stewardship reporting over 2025 will have a fiscal focus. We are New Zealand’s economic, as well as finance, agency and we will use other reports to share our ongoing analysis around improving New Zealand's economic performance.