Period-specific information: Year ended June 2025 publication

Reference period This information release presents government finance statistics (GFS) for local, central, and general government for the years ended June 2009 to 2025. Implementation of new government finance statistics standard In 2018, we implemented the International Monetary Fund’s Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014), which follows GFSM 2001 and is consistent with the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA08). Implementing GFSM 2014 ensures that New Zealand’s GFS are consistent with international best practice and are comparable internationally. The GFSM 2014 standard introduced key conceptual changes – most notably, the capitalisation of research and development, and weapons systems (see Preview of 2018 government finance statistics improvements for more information). Some item reclassifications have also occurred across the GFSM 2001 and GFSM 2014 standards which we were unable to implement in time for the 2018 release. Each year we make further improvements to our classifications to reflect the GFSM 2014 standard. Improvement annual data for investment on the City Rail Link project For the 2025 GFS release, we improved how we measure government investment in the City Rail Link (CRL) project within our annual statistics. These updates result in the work in progress construction activity being recorded with the organisations that will ultimately own the assets, rather than being shown on CRL’s balance sheet. More information can be found in the 2025 preview of national accounts improvements and updates. This reallocation of non-financial assets required us to strengthen several adjustments to the way CRL activity is reflected in the government finance statistics to ensure the accounts remain coherent. These adjustments ensure that CRL’s equity reflects the reattribution of the Work in Progress assets, as well as the distribution of ownership between local and central government. The adjustments also capture the increase in equity held by the ultimate owners of the assets, consistent with the rise in non-financial assets. Together, these changes improve the accuracy and consistency of how CRL investment is reflected in the GFS and support better alignment with the annual national accounts. March/June timing differences National accounts annual releases are compiled on a March year-end basis, whereas Government finance statistics (general government) is compiled on a June year-end basis. Government financial statistics provide an economic representation of central and local government financial activity. Timing differences across the national accounts and government finance statistics releases do not typically lead to large differences in government measures, however in the 2019/2020 year a large proportion of COVID-related government transactions occurred in the June 2020 quarter. Most notably, the government’s COVID-19 business support subsidy package was administered in both the March and June 2020 quarters. The government accounts are accrual-based, which means that business subsidy payments are recognised as they are approved. Approximately a third of the subsidies were approved in the March quarter, with most of the remainder approved in the June quarter. During the 2021/2022 year a similar effect occurs with increased subsidies in the September quarter of 2021 occurring immediately after the year ended June 2021 threshold. Some of our government measures will therefore vary significantly across the March and June year-end releases. Data available on Infoshare We have applied data updates to time series data on Infoshare, under the following categories: Subject category: Government finance Group: Government finance statistics – GFS en-NZ