ETS liabilities help blow out the govt's deficit

ETS liabilities help blow out the govt's deficit
The ETS is both an accounting liability and a cash windfall for finance minister Grant Robertson. (Image: BusinessDesk)
Ian Llewellyn
The growth in the government’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) liability, which helped create a blowout in the crown’s overall deficit, is a sign of a wider issue with the ETS and the amount of carbon units now stockpiled.The crown operating balance for the eight months ended Feb 28 released on Tuesday show an $18.2 billion deficit – $1.1b more than forecast.This was mainly due to net losses on financial instruments, which were $3.9b higher than forecast largely due to returns on the crown’s investment portfolios (New Zea...

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