By Rebecca Howard
WELLINGTON--Finance Minister Bill English Thursday confirmed the 2013 budget will show the New Zealand government is still on track to return to a surplus in the year to June 2015.
"That is a considerable achievement--and a significant turnaround in the space of just a few years. Just two years ago, we ran an 18.4 billion New Zealand dollar (US$15.8 billion) deficit, half of which was the cost of contributing to the rebuild of Canterbury," Mr. English told the Wellington Employers' Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. English didn't give a figure for the surplus but in December the Treasury forecast a surplus of NZ$66 million for the period. The budget is due to be presented May 16.
The budget has been in the red since the year to June 2009, largely as a result of a deep recession triggered by the global financial crisis and the series of earthquakes in the country's second largest city of Christchurch in Canterbury.
Write to Rebecca Howard at rebecca.howard@wsj.com
WELLINGTON--Finance Minister Bill English Thursday confirmed the 2013 budget will show the New Zealand government is still on track to return to a surplus in the year to June 2015.
"That is a considerable achievement--and a significant turnaround in the space of just a few years. Just two years ago, we ran an 18.4 billion New Zealand dollar (US$15.8 billion) deficit, half of which was the cost of contributing to the rebuild of Canterbury," Mr. English told the Wellington Employers' Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. English didn't give a figure for the surplus but in December the Treasury forecast a surplus of NZ$66 million for the period. The budget is due to be presented May 16.
The budget has been in the red since the year to June 2009, largely as a result of a deep recession triggered by the global financial crisis and the series of earthquakes in the country's second largest city of Christchurch in Canterbury.
Write to Rebecca Howard at rebecca.howard@wsj.com
