The interim Financial Statements of the Government of New
Zealand for the seven months ended 31 January 2026
were released by the Treasury today. The January results are
reported against forecasts based on the Half Year
Economic and Fiscal Update 2025 (HYEFU 2025),
published on 16 December 2025, and the results for the
same period for the previous year.
The key
fiscal indicators for the seven months ended 31 January 2026
were overall favourable compared to the forecast. The
Government’s main operating indicator, the operating
balance before gains and losses excluding ACC
(OBEGALx), showed a deficit of $6.0 billion. This
deficit was $1.9 billion smaller than forecast. Net
core Crown debt was lower than forecast by $1.1
billion at $184.3 billion, or 41.9% of
GDP.
Core Crown tax revenue was
$70.4billion, broadly in line with forecast (0.1%
below), with small offsetting variances across the
major tax types.
Core Crown revenue
was $77.3billion, around $0.4billion (0.6%)
below forecast. Revenue from the NZ Emissions Trading
Scheme was lower than expected due to the decline in
the NZU price since the forecasts were
prepared.
Core Crown expenses,
at $83.1 billion, were $1.2 billion (1.5%) below
forecast, reflecting lower spending across a range of
functional classifications.
The OBEGALx
deficit was $1.9 billion less than the forecast
deficit. This reflects the core Crown variances
mentioned above coupled with favourable results from Crown
entities and State-Owned
Enterprises.
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The operating balance
was a surplus of $4.0billion, $4.5billion
stronger than forecast. The variance reflected a
favourable OBEGAL result of $1.8billion and
strongerthanforecast net gains on
nonfinancial instruments ($2.8billion), partly offset
by weaker-than-expected net gains on financial
instruments ($0.3billion).
The core
Crown residual cash deficit of $1.9billion was
$0.8billion smaller than forecast, reflecting lower
operating outflows and higher capital cash
inflows.
Net core Crown debt at
$184.3 billion (41.9% of GDP) was $1.1billion lower than
forecast. This variance was largely driven by the
smallerthanforecast core Crown residual cash
deficit mentioned above.
Gross
debt at $220.6billion (50.2% of GDP) was
$3.6billion lower than forecast. This reflected
lowerthanforecast issuances of Euro Commercial Paper
and Treasury bills of $1.8 billion and $1.5 billion,
respectively.
Net worth
attributable to the Crown at $183.5 billion (41.7%
of GDP) was $4.6 billion higher than forecast. This
favourable variance largely reflects the stronger operating
balance result of $4.5 billion, discussed
previously.
