Analysts at TD Securities note that in the 2019 ‘Wellbeing’ Budget of NZ economy, the Ardern government has ramped up recurrent spending targeting non-economic programs such as mental health and child poverty.
Key Quotes
“There is limited commitment to boosting infrastructure and other capital spending. With little changes in growth and revenue projections, this higher spending is to be funded by an additional $NZ5b of NZGBs over the forward estimates – including a new 2031 maturity by year end – but this doesn’t materially threaten the ‘old’ line in the sand of net debt exceeding 20% of GDP.”