Government Finance Statistics: Year Ended June 2025

Government finance statistics (general government) gives an economic representation of New Zealand's central and local government financial activity.

Key facts

In the year ended June 2025:

• general government net operating deficit was $5.3 billion, following a $2.0 billion deficit in the year ended June 2024
• total operating income increased by 1.5 percent compared with the year end June 2024, led by increases in tax revenue and sales of goods and services
• total operating expenses increased by 3.5 percent, driven by increases in social benefits (up $5.1 billion) and interest expense (up $1.1 billion)
• net acquisition of non-financial assets rose by $448.0 million from June 2024 to $10.3 billion in June 2025
• net borrowing was $15.6 billion
• net worth fell by $3.8 billion to $465.0 billion, following a $26.5 billion increase in 2024
• net debt rose $25.1 billion to $115.2 billion in the year ended June 2025.

Net operating balance deficit increases

Government finance statistics for general government showed a net operating deficit of $5.3 billion in the year ended June 2025, an increase from a deficit of $2.0 billion in the year ended June 2024. The increase in the deficit was driven by higher operating expenses, while operating income grew at a slower pace, resulting in a larger deficit for the year ended June 2025.

Operating income increased by $2.4 billion to a total of $165.8 billion in the year ended June 2025. This was driven by an increase in total taxation revenue, which was composed of the following changes:

• taxes payable by individuals was up $1.5 billion (2.4 percent)
• taxes payable by corporations and other enterprises, down $1.0 billion (4.2 percent)
• taxes on goods and services increased $0.8 billion (up 2.0 percent)
• all other tax types contributed to a $1.1 billion (8.6 percent) increase in total taxation revenue, mainly due to higher property taxes.

Operating expenses increased by $5.8 billion to a total of $171.1 billion in the year ended June 2025. The main drivers for the increase were:

• social benefits, up $5.1 billion (7.9 percent)
• interest expenses, up $1.1 billion (13.8 percent).

These increases were partly offset by a $1.2 billion decrease in purchases of goods and services, mainly due to lower spending on goods and services by central government.

General government net borrowing for the year ended June 2025 was $15.6 billion, up from $11.8 billion in 2024. Borrowing is still above the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Net worth decreases

General government net worth was $465.0 billion at 30 June 2025, down $3.8 billion from 2024. This was mainly due to total assets growing less than last year (up $24.0 billion or 3.3 percent) to $753.7 billion, while liabilities increased more than last year (up $27.8 billion or 10.6 percent) to $288.7 billion.

Key contributors to the increase in total liabilities in net worth were:

• debt securities, up $14.4 billion (8.5 percent)
• loans, up $11.9 billion (31.8 percent).

Total financial assets rose by $10.5 billion (3.2 percent), partly offsetting the impact of increased borrowing on net worth.

Net debt to GDP ratio increases

The government finance statistics framework definition of net debt includes all financial assets and liabilities, excluding shares and other equity, equity accounted investments, and financial derivatives.

Net debt increased from $90.1 billion to $115.2 billion in the year ended June 2025, rising faster than the nominal expenditure measure of GDP, which increased from $420.1 billion to $436.1 billion in the year ended June 2025. Therefore, the ratio of general government net debt to nominal GDP increased from 21.4 percent at year ended June 2024 to 26.4 percent at year ended June 2025.

Central government net debt decreased in nominal terms from 2012 to 2019, except for an increase in 2016. Net debt has increased from 2020 onward as the government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local government net debt increased by $1.8 billion in the year ended June 2025.

More data

Use Infoshare for time-series data about government finance statistics.

Subject category: Government finance
Group: Government finance statistics - GFS

Definitions and metadata

Government finance statistics (general government): Year ended June 2025 - DataInfo+ explains revisions in this release resulting from new information and improvements.

Government finance statistics (general government): general information - DataInfo+ has definitions of terms used in this release and gives general methodology used to produce these statistics.

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Next release

Government finance statistics (general government): Year ended June 2026 will be released in November 2026.