Crown accounts show expenses within 0.4% of forecast in ten months to Apr 30

“The accounts show we’re managing the books carefully and living within our means by running a surplus,” Grant Robertson said.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 06-06-2019 05:56 IST | Created: 06-06-2019 05:53 IST
Crown accounts show expenses within 0.4% of forecast in ten months to Apr 30
The April accounts were the first to use a new Inland Revenue system for recording how much tax revenue the Government has collected. Image Credit: Pixabay
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The Government continues to run a surplus, manage expenses carefully and keep debt under control.

The latest Crown accounts show expenses were within 0.4 percent of forecast in the ten months to 30 April. Net core Crown debt was at 21.2 percent of GDP, against the 21.6 percent forecast.

“The accounts show we’re managing the books carefully and living within our means by running a surplus,” Grant Robertson said.

The April accounts were the first to use a new Inland Revenue system for recording how much tax revenue the Government has collected. This is one of the reasons the April accounts show differences between the revenue numbers and the Treasury’s forecasts, which were compiled under the old system.

For example, the Crown accounts show core Crown tax revenue for the ten months to 30 April was $2.3 billion above the Treasury forecast due to higher-than-expected revenue for corporate tax, GST and ‘other persons’ tax. This affected the ten-month surplus number by about the same amount.

“The Government is taking the responsible approach of waiting to see how the variance between actual revenue and the forecasts shifts over the next few months. There is a chance that some of it reverse out due to timing differences, which have made it look like revenue is running ahead of the forecasts based on the old model,” Grant Robertson said.

The Treasury is working on building the new data into its next forecasting round. In the meantime, there will be some large differences between the new actual monthly revenue numbers and the forecasts over the coming year.

“We always knew that there would be a transition period for the new revenue system. I have asked the Treasury and Inland Revenue to work closely together to make sure the forecasts align with the new data coming through,” Grant Robertson said.

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)

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