NZ Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2016

In today's NZ half year economic and fiscal update of 2016, New Zealand sees 2016/17 net debt at 24.3 pct of gdp, with a budget forecast of 25.6 pct of GDP. 

Additional headlines 

nz sees 2020/21 obegal surplus nz$8.5 billion 

nz sees 2017/2018 obegal surplus nz$3.3 billion (budget forecast: nz$2.455 billion) 

nz sees net debt declining to 18.8 pct of gdp by 2020/21 

nz sees 2016/17 cash balance nz$-2.19 (budget forecast: nz$ -4.2 billion) 

nz sees 2016/17 obegal surplus nz$ 0.47 billion (budget forecast: nz$0.719 billion) 

nz finmin: net nz$1 billion in earthquake costs which cannot be met from other sources added to budget forecasts 

nz finmin: total fiscal cost of kaikoura earthquake forecast between nz$2 billion to nz$3 billion 

nz sees march 2017 yr real gdp growth at 3.6 pct (budget forecast: 2.9 pct) 

nz finmin: surplus lower than forecast due to impact of kaikoura earthquake and acc insurance costs 

nz finmin: gdp growth to average around 3 pct over next five years driven by construction, tourism, migration, low interest rates 

nz finmin: contributions to superannuation will restart in 2020/21 when net debt falls below 20 pct of gdp 

nz finmin: says responding to earthquake and reducing debt are higher priorities than income tax cuts now 

nz finmin: says govt will consider options for income tax cuts either in 2016/2017 or later as fiscal situation improves 

nz finmin says sees 2016/2017 bond issuance nz$8 billion vs nz$ 7 billion in budget update 

nz finmin:if australian economy slipped into recession, sees number of implications for nz