The interim Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the ten months ended 30 April 2026 were released by the Treasury today. The April results are reported against forecasts based on theBudget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU 2026), published on 28 May 2026, and the results for the same period for the previous year.
Overall, the key fiscal indicators for the ten months ended 30 April 2026 were stronger than forecast. The operating balance before gains and losses excluding ACC (OBEGALx) showed a deficit of $6.0 billion, which was $3.2 billion smaller than forecast. Net core Crown debt was $1.6 billion lower than forecast, at $190.3 billion or 42.8% of GDP.
Core Crown tax revenue at $103.9 billion, was $1.8 billion (1.8%) higher than forecast. The variance predominantly reflects higher-than-forecast corporate and other individuals’ tax revenue owing to stronger-than-forecast provisional tax revenue. In addition, GST and source deductions revenue were also slightly stronger than forecast.
Core Crown expenses, at $119.7 billion, were broadly in line with forecast. The small variance of $0.2 billion (0.2%) was spread across a range of functional classifications, including core government services, economic and industrial services, law and order and primary services.
The OBEGALx deficit was $6.0 billion, $3.2 billion smaller than forecast reflecting core Crown results noted above and the favourable results of State‑Owned Enterprises. When including the revenue and expenses of ACC, the OBEGAL deficit was $3.5 billion smaller than the forecast deficit at $8.8 billion.
The operating balance was a deficit of $0.3 billion, compared to a forecast deficit of $2.4 billion. This mainly reflects the favourable OBEGAL variance mentioned above, partially offset by weaker-than-forecast net gains on financial instruments of $8.2 billion, which came in $1.7 billion lower than the forecast.
The core Crown residual cash deficit of $7.5 billion was $0.7 billion smaller than forecast. Net core Crown operating cash outflows and capital cash outflows were $0.4 billion and $0.3 billion lower than forecast, respectively.
Net core Crown debt at $190.3 billion (42.8% of GDP) was $1.6 billion lower than forecast. This variance was partly driven by the smaller‑than‑forecast core Crown residual cash deficit mentioned above. In addition, issued currency was $0.7 billion higher than forecast.
Gross debt at $228.4 billion (51.3% of GDP) was higher than forecast by $3.0 billion (1.3%). This primarily reflected higher-than-forecast issuances of Euro Commercial Paper driven by short-term cash requirements, along with higher-than-forecast cross-currency derivatives in loss at 30 April 2026.
Net worth attributable to the Crown at $179.9 billion (40.4% of GDP) was $2.7 billion higher than forecast. This reflected the stronger-than-forecast operating balance result along with higher-than-expected property, plant and equipment valuation movements.
| Year to date | Full Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 Actual1 $m |
April 2026 BEFU 2026 Forecast1 $m |
Variance2 BEFU 2026 $m |
Variance BEFU 2026 % |
June 2026 BEFU 2026 Forecast3 $m |
|
| Core Crown tax revenue | 103,914 | 102,071 | 1,843 | 1.8 | 124,807 |
| Core Crown revenue | 114,463 | 112,124 | 2,339 | 2.1 | 137,235 |
| Core Crown expenses | 119,710 | 119,954 | 244 | 0.2 | 147,239 |
| Core Crown residual cash | (7,544) | (8,289) | 745 | 9.0 | (9,314) |
| Net core Crown debt4 | 190,274 | 191,918 | 1,644 | 0.9 | 191,761 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 42.8% | 43.1% | 42.4% | ||
| Gross debt | 228,380 | 225,378 | (3,001) | (1.3) | 223,761 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 51.3% | 50.7% | 49.5% | ||
| OBEGAL excluding ACC (OBEGALx) | (6,018) | (9,246) | 3,228 | 34.9 | (11,937) |
| OBEGAL | (8,803) | (12,269) | 3,466 | 28.3 | (15,058) |
| Operating balance (excluding minority interests) | (329) | (2,361) | 2,032 | 86.1 | (4,137) |
| Net worth attributable to the Crown | 179,859 | 177,201 | 2,658 | 1.5 | 175,459 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 40.4% | 39.8% | 38.8% | ||
- Using the most recently published GDP (for the year ended 31 December 2025) of $444,821 million (Source: Stats NZ).
- Favourable variances against forecast have a positive sign and unfavourable variances against forecast have a negative sign.
- Using BEFU 2026 forecast GDP for the year ending 30 June 2026 of $452,159 million (Source: The Treasury).
- Net core Crown debt excludes the NZS Fund and core Crown advances. Net core Crown debt may fluctuate during the year largely reflecting the timing of tax receipts.