Source: The Treasury
The Interim Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the six months ended 31 December 2024 were released by the Treasury today.
The December results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2024 (HYEFU 2024), published on 17 December 2024, and the results for the same period for the previous year.
| Year to date | Full Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2024 Actual1 $m |
December
2024 |
Variance2 HYEFU 2024 $m |
Variance HYEFU 2024 % |
June 2025 HYEFU 2024 Forecast3 $m |
|
| Core Crown tax revenue | 59,944 | 59,715 | 229 | 0.4 | 120,623 |
| Core Crown revenue | 66,575 | 66,284 | 291 | 0.4 | 134,038 |
| Core Crown expenses | 68,879 | 69,322 | 443 | 0.6 | 144,638 |
| Core Crown residual cash | (11,206) | (10,722) | (484) | (4.5) | (16,610) |
| Net core Crown debt4 | 185,834 | 186,575 | 741 | 0.4 | 192,810 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 44.1% | 44.2% | 45.1% | ||
| Gross debt | 199,099 | 193,413 | (5,685) | (2.9) | 206,558 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 47.2% | 45.9% | 48.3% | ||
| OBEGAL excluding ACC (OBEGALx) | (3,501) | (3,885) | 384 | 9.9 | (12,868) |
| OBEGAL | (4,571) | (4,878) | 307 | 6.3 | (17,317) |
| Operating balance (excluding minority interests) | (348) | (1,464) | 1,116 | 76.2 | (10,161) |
| Net worth | 187,459 | 186,373 | 1,086 | 0.6 | 177,492 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 44.5% | 44.2% | 41.5% | ||
- Using the most recently published GDP (for the year ended 30 September 2024) of $421,702 million (Source: Stats NZ).
- Favourable variances against forecast have a positive sign and unfavourable variances against forecast have a negative sign.
- Using HYEFU 2024 forecast GDP for the year ending 30 June 2025 of $427,252 million (Source: The Treasury).
- Net core Crown debt excludes the NZS Fund and core Crown advances. Net core Crown debt may fluctuate during the year largely reflecting the timing of tax receipts.
Core Crown tax revenue at $59.9 billion was $0.2 billion (0.4%) higher than forecast, with the largest variance in GST being $0.3 billion (1.5%) above forecast.
Core Crown expenses at $68.9 billion were $0.4 billion (0.6%) below forecast. The variance is mostly timing in nature and was spread across a range of functional spending areas.
The operating balance before gains and losses excluding ACC (OBEGALx) was a deficit of $3.5 billion, $0.4 billion less than the forecast deficit. When including the revenue and expenses of ACC, the OBEGAL deficit was $4.6 billion, $0.3 billion less than the deficit forecast.
The operating balance deficit of $0.3 billion was $1.1 billion less than the deficit forecast. This is largely owing to the variances to forecast in net gains and losses for the six months to December 2024, with net losses on non-financial instruments being $1.4 billion lower than forecast, partly offset by net gains on financial instruments being $0.8 billion lower than forecast.
The core Crown residual cash deficit of $11.2 billion was $0.5 billion more than the deficit forecast and was largely timing in nature with personnel and operating payments occurring earlier than anticipated.
Net core Crown debt at $185.8 billion (44.1% of GDP), was broadly in line with forecast ($186.6 billion or 44.2% of GDP). While the core Crown residual cash deficit was higher than forecast, its impact on net core Crown debt was more than offset by higher than forecast net gains on financial instruments and the Reserve Bank’s issuance of circulating currency.
Gross debt at $199.1 billion (47.2% of GDP) was $5.7 billion higher than forecast largely owing to higher than forecast derivatives in loss and issuances of Euro Commercial Paper. However, this increase in gross debt was broadly offset by a corresponding increase in financial assets therefore this has not flowed through to the net core Crown debt measure or to net worth.
Net worth at $187.5 billion (44.5% of GDP), was $1.1 billion higher than forecast largely reflecting the operating balance results. Net worth consisted of total Crown assets of $597.9 billion ($13.0 billion higher than forecast) and total Crown liabilities of $410.5 billion ($11.9 billion higher than forecast).