The government has sprinkled the proceeds of its $4.7 billion assets sales programme across projects ranging from housing developments to irrigation schemes and an increased bailout for state-owned Kiwirail. Some $1 billion of the money, held by the Future Investment Fund, has been allocated in the 2014 budget, including $67 million for a new Grey Base Hospital on the West …

Two days after Australia’s black budget, New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English has unveiled a Crown balance sheet where revenue growth runs ahead of expenses in an economy accelerating to the fastest pace in a decade. English confirmed a return to Budget surplus in 2015 at $372 million, wider than the $86 million projected in the half year economic and …

Concerns over the high cost of building materials see the government temporarily cutting tariffs and anti-dumping duties on imported building products to zero, as part of efforts to improve housing affordability. The duty cuts will include products such as plasterboard, reinforcing steel bar and wire nails, and tariffs will fall to zero for products such as roofing, cladding, insulation, paints, …