The Public Finance Act 1989 (PFA) requires the Minister of Finance to present a budget policy statement to the House of Representatives each year that sets out:
- the goals and objectives that will guide the Government's decisions in the forthcoming Budget, and
- the Government's short-term fiscal intentions, long-term fiscal objectives, and strategy for managing expenditure, assets and liabilities, if these have changed from those stated in the most recent fiscal strategy report.
The most recent fiscal strategy report was that prepared by the previous Government for Budget 2023. The coalition Government's fiscal strategy is different, so much of this Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) is concerned with setting out a new fiscal strategy, including new short-term intentions and new long-term objectives.
This BPS also sets out the Treasury's current understanding of the state of the New Zealand economy, drawing on preliminary economic forecasts prepared in advance of the Budget. It does not present updated fiscal forecasts, as an accurate set of fiscal forecasts depends on information yet to be collected from a range of government entities and on decisions yet to be made on the Budget 2024 package. A full set of economic and fiscal forecasts and projections will be presented in the Fiscal Strategy Report (FSR), alongside the Budget on 30 May 2024.