The Interim Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the eleven months ended 31 May 2026 were released by the Treasury today. The May results are reported against forecasts based on the Budget 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 eleven months ended 31 May 2026 were stronger than forecast. The operating balance before gains and losses excluding ACC (OBEGALx) showed a deficit of $6.8 billion, which was $3.0 billion smaller than forecast. Net core Crown debt was $2.8 billion lower than forecast, at $186.0 billion or 41.3% of GDP.
Core Crown tax revenue at $114.9 billion, was $0.9 billion higher than forecast. The variance predominantly reflected higher-than-forecast corporate and other individuals’ tax revenue owing to stronger-than-forecast provisional tax revenue.
Core Crown revenue at $126.6 billion was $1.7 billion higher than forecast. In addition to the favourable core Crown tax results, revenue from the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) was $0.5 billion higher than forecast reflecting an increase in the price of New Zealand Units (NZUs) and a higher volume of NZUs being surrendered to the Crown.
Core Crown expenses at $132.4 billion, were $0.9 billion lower than forecast spread across a range of functional classifications, including core government services, economic and industrial services, transport and communications and education.
The OBEGALx deficit was $6.8 billion, $3.0 billion smaller than forecast reflecting the core Crown results noted above along with results of State‑Owned Enterprises. When including the revenue and expenses of ACC, the OBEGAL deficit was $9.5 billion, $3.4 billion smaller than the forecast deficit.
The operating balance surplus of $1.1 billion was $3.6 billion stronger than the forecast deficit of $2.5 billion. This mainly reflects the favourable OBEGAL variance mentioned above, with variances in gains and losses on financial and non-financial instruments broadly offsetting each other.
The core Crown residual cash deficit of $4.6 billion was $2.0 billion smaller than forecast. Net core Crown operating cash outflows and capital cash outflows were $1.9 billion and $0.1 billion lower than forecast, respectively. The net core Crown operating cashflows variance was largely driven by higher than forecast tax receipts and lower than forecast personnel and operating costs, broadly consistent with the trends in core Crown tax revenue and expenses discussed above.
Net core Crown debt at $186.0 billion (41.3% of GDP) was $2.8 billion lower than forecast. This variance was mainly driven by the smaller‑than‑forecast core Crown residual cash deficit mentioned above. In addition, the Reserve Bank’s issued currency was $0.7 billion higher than forecast.
Gross debt at $222.5 billion (49.3% of GDP) was higher than forecast by $1.2 billion. This primarily reflected higher-than-forecast issuances of Euro Commercial Paper driven by short-term cash requirements and unsettled purchases of securities, partially offset by lower-than-forecast cross-currency derivatives in loss at 31 May 2026.
Net worth attributable to the Crown at $181.2 billion (40.2% of GDP) was $4.1 billion higher than forecast. This reflected the stronger-than-forecast operating balance result mentioned above ($3.6 billion) along with higher-than-expected property, plant and equipment valuation movements.
| Year to date | Full Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 Actual1 $m |
May 2026 BEFU 2026 Forecast1 $m |
Variance2 BEFU 2026 $m |
Variance BEFU 2026 % |
June 2026 BEFU 2026 Forecast3 $m |
|
| Core Crown tax revenue | 114,925 | 113,985 | 940 | 0.8 | 124,807 |
| Core Crown revenue | 126,641 | 124,962 | 1,679 | 1.3 | 137,235 |
| Core Crown expenses | 132,408 | 133,337 | 929 | 0.7 | 147,239 |
| Core Crown residual cash | (4,578) | (6,563) | 1,985 | 30.2 | (9,314) |
| Net core Crown debt4 | 186,040 | 188,863 | 2,823 | 1.5 | 191,761 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 41.3% | 41.9% | 42.4% | ||
| Gross debt | 222,535 | 221,371 | (1,164) | (0.5) | 223,761 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 49.3% | 49.1% | 49.5% | ||
| OBEGAL excluding ACC (OBEGALx) | (6,787) | (9,827) | 3,040 | 30.9 | (11,937) |
| OBEGAL | (9,507) | (12,897) | 3,390 | 26.3 | (15,058) |
| Operating balance (excluding minority interests) | 1,061 | (2,508) | 3,569 | 142.3 | (4,137) |
| Net worth attributable to the Crown | 181,217 | 177,081 | 4,136 | 2.3 | 175,459 |
| as a percentage of GDP | 40.2% | 39.3% | 38.8% | ||
- Using the most recently published GDP (for the year ended 31 March 2026) of $450,959 million (Source: Stats NZ).
- Favourable variances against forecast have a positive sign and unfavourable variances against forecast have a negative sign.
- Using BEFU 26 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.