Nats shave spending to promise slightly lower govt debt

Nats shave spending to promise slightly lower govt debt
National's finance spokeswoman, Nicola Willis. (Image: NZME)
Pattrick Smellie
A National party-led government will deliver a pre-Christmas mini-budget to kick off 6.5% spending cuts that it would require from back-office or non-essential programmes, National's shadow finance minister, Nicola Willis, announced.She made the pledge at the publication of National's updated fiscal plan to deliver a $3.4 billion improvement in government debt levels and slightly larger fiscal surpluses than the Treasury forecasts in last week’s pre-election economic and fiscal update.National’s much-awaited “fiscal pl...

More Economy

Economists expect a 25bps cut in Nov, inflation as expected
Economy

Economists expect a 25bps cut in Nov, inflation as expected

Annual inflation was 3%, within the 1% to 3% band. 

A brief inflation spike won’t spook the RBNZ
Economy

A brief inflation spike won’t spook the RBNZ

Some economists believe annual inflation could reach 3.1% in the third quarter. 

Rebecca Howard 17 Oct 2025
Otago a lukewarm jewel of economic temperature: survey
Finance

Otago a lukewarm jewel of economic temperature: survey

An economic thermometer reveals a cool-to-cold mood hanging over NZ, with Otago lukewarm.

Staff reporters 15 Oct 2025