New Zealand on Thursday unveiled a $2.5-billion spending package under a much-hy...
WELLINGTON - New Zealand on Thursday unveiled a $2.5-billion spending package under a much-hyped ‘Wellbeing’ budget, prioritizing mental health and alleviating child poverty, but it expects a smaller surplus and slower economic growth over the next year.
The budget increases the annual operating allowance for new spending to NZ$3.8 billion per year over the four-year forecast period, from a forecast NZ$2.4 billion in the previous budget. The Treasury department, however, downgraded its gross domestic product forecasts to 2.1% in the year ending June 30, 2019, compared to 2.9% predicted in December, hurt by a cooling global economy and slackening domestic consumption.
The budget forecast an operating surplus of NZ$3.5 billion for the year ending June, up from NZ$1.7 billion forecast in December, but is then expected to narrow to NZ$1.3 billion in 12-months to June 2020. Some questioned whether the budget had lived up to the government’s stated goals to transform the economy and pointed out that the spending increase was still relatively modest as the government stuck firmly to its targets of paying down debt.
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