Prefu: Looking behind the curtain can be unsettling

Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis: dodging Labour's fiscal booby traps. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Wed, 13 Sep 2023

How you interpret the pre-election economic and fiscal update depends a lot on what you choose to believe.At first blush, the pre-election economic and fiscal update (Prefu) presents a relatively benign outlook, with the notable exception of the massive budget deficit forecast for this year compared to the budget in May.If it is credible that the government will find $4 billion in spending cuts in the next four years, won’t overspend its allowances for new initiatives, and that corporate tax revenue will continue to grow as forecast, then...

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