Guide to New Zealand Budgeting Practices

Introduction

In New Zealand, we collectively describe our budgeting practices as the Fiscal Management Approach (FMA). The FMA is the core tool, or the “rules of the game”, for ensuring that the Government's decisions are consistent with their fiscal strategy. It was last formally documented in 2003 when the FMA was introduced as we now know it, although it built upon the “fiscal provisions” framework used from the late 1990s.