Finance Minister Grant Robertson has handed down his sixth budget, with a focus on infrastructure and cost of living relief to New Zealand families.
* Deficit – $NZ7 billion ($A6.6 billion)
A fourth straight year in the red with more to come. Deficits of $NZ7.6b and $NZ3.6b are tipped to follow before a tight $NZ600 million surplus in 2026.
* Avoiding recession …. just
After a 0.6 per cent contraction in the December quarter, Treasury believes New Zealand will avoid recession by bouncing back to growth. Skinny GDP growth is tipped in all four quarters of 2023, which includes cyclone response spending.
* Goodbye inflation nation
After a peak of 7.2 per cent late last year, headline inflation has dropped to 6.8 per cent and Treasury tips drops of at least 0.5 per cent a quarter for the next year. It will return to the Reserve Bank’s target band of 1-3 per cent by the end of 2024.
* Unemployment on the rise
More Kiwis will be out of work in the months to come. From its current rate of 3.4 per cent, Treasury thinks it will rise every quarter for 18 months to peak at 5.3 per cent at the end of 2024.
* House prices will remain suppressed
Kiwi homeowners are in for a rude shock. After record growth through 2021, prices have cratered by around 20 per cent. Previous predictions had home values bouncing back to their previous highs within a few years – but not any more. Treasury now tips years of low growth.
KEY & NOTEWORTHY INITIATIVES
* Childcare subsidy extensions to two-year-olds (cost: $NZ1.2b)
* Free pharmacy medications for most common drugs (cost: $NZ619b)
* Free public transport for under 13s and half price for 13 to 24-year-olds (cost: $NZ327m)
* Building 3000 public homes over the next two years (cost: $NZ3.6b)
* Electric vehicle public charging at all towns with more than 2000 people (cost: $NZ120m)
* Game development studios gain a 20 per cent rebate (cost: $NZ160m)
* ‘Science City’ funding for Wellington (cost: $NZ451m)
* Insulation and heating retrofits to 100,000 low-income homes (cost: $NZ403m)
* A wind turbine for the Chatham Islands, the most remote populated part of NZ (cost: $NZ11m)
* Support for the national Kapa Haka celebrations, Te Matatini (cost: $NZ34m)
* Aligning the top trustee tax rate with the top personal income rate (revenue: $NZ1.1b)
* Applying GST to Airbnb, Uber and Ubereats style apps (revenue: $NZ152b)
Australian Associated Press