Finance Minister Bill English will meet his targets for a return to budget surplus in 2015 and a drop in net debt by 2021 by putting a cap on new spending, taking in more tax and delaying the resumption of pension contributions. The Budget Economic and Fiscal Update forecasts a faster track for economic growth over the next four years, …

The country’s most valuable electricity company, Meridian Energy, will be partially privatised in the second of this year, assuming market conditions make it a good time to sell, Finance Minister Bill English announced in today’s budget. The widely anticipated announcement could see the government take in perhaps $3.3 billion for its so-called Future Investment Fund, with the state-owned electricity generator …

Telecom’s Gen-i has agreed to sell its Davanti Consulting business in a management buy-out the latest step to trim down IT services unit. Davanti Principal Consultants’ Justin Hamilton, Matt Farrar and Robert Carter have signed a conditional agreement for Gen-i’s Davanti unit for an undisclosed sum, and is expected to settle on May 31, Telecom said in a statement. Gen-i …

The New Zealand Debt Management Office will cut its borrowing programme by $3 billion over the next two years as the government looks to clamp down on its growing interest bill and build a buffer for future shocks. The DMO will cut its short-term Treasury bills on issue by $1 billion in the 2013/14 financial year and will reduce bond …

Finance Minister Bill English has given the tick of approval to the Reserve Bank’s new set of tools to cool asset bubbles, the most pressing of which is the country’s heated property market. The minister has signed a memorandum of understanding with central bank governor Graeme Wheeler granting the bank regulator the ability to require lenders to hold more capital …

Some $18 billion of new residential housing in Canterbury, accounting for almost half the region’s rebuild, will be the key driver behind New Zealand’s 2.5 percent annual rate of growth over the next four years. The Treasury sees gross domestic product growth of 2.5 percent in the year ended March 31, slipping to 2.4 percent in 2014 before rising to …

Compared to the last four budgets, this year’s reflects an economy moving out of recession and into calmer waters. The global financial crisis is still a risk, but we’re not in the maelstrom anymore. For now, at least. Yet if the fastest annual growth rate we can expect over the next two years is 3 percent – – with the …

Senior executives of newly listed, state-controlled MightyRiverPower are in line for shares in lieu of cash bonuses worth $1.2 million for the year to June 30, one of the company’s first disclosures to the NZX and ASX as a listed company show. Some $418,750 of that total will be owed to chief executive Doug Heffernan, assuming bonus benchmarks are met. …

Ryman Healthcare, the retirement village operator whose shares have jumped by more than a third this year, boosted annual profit 13 percent as increased sales of units lifted its fee income and as the value of its property portfolio continued to climb. Net profit rose to $136.7 million, or 27.5 cents per share, in the 12 months ended March 31, …

The New Zealand dollar strengthened against major currencies as investors take advantage of a dip in the kiwi to buy ahead of the government budget today. The kiwi rose to 82.36 US cents from 82.13 cents at 5 pm yesterday. The trade-weighted index gained to 77.48 from 77.13 yesterday. New Zealand’s currency has been trading under 82 US cents this …