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Government spending: NZ data and downloads

Government spending was $141,675 million in 2024/25, up $2,677 million on a year earlier.

Updated

Source: The Treasury (New Zealand). Last retrieved 10 October 2026.

Government spending, $m, 1993/94 to 2024/25

Core Crown expenses. Core Crown expenses, 1993/94 to 2024/25, latest $141,675 million.050,000100,000150,000New accounting basis, 1996/97New accounting basis, 2004/051993/941999/002005/062011/122017/182024/25
Show the figures
PeriodCore Crown expenses ($m)
2024/25$141,675 million
2023/24$138,998 million
2022/23$127,574 million
2021/22$125,641 million
2020/21$107,764 million
2019/20$108,832 million
2018/19$86,959 million
2017/18$80,576 million
2016/17$76,339 million
2015/16$73,929 million
2014/15$72,363 million
2013/14$71,174 million
2012/13$69,962 million
2011/12$68,939 million
2010/11$70,099 million
2009/10$63,554 million
2008/09$63,711 million
2007/08$56,753 million
2006/07$53,764 million
2005/06$49,084 million
Full data: core crown expenses
2024/25Core Crown expenses $141,675 millionTreasury basis: PBE Standards
Core Crown expenses. Core Crown expenses: $141,675 million in 2024/25.

Lines break at accounting-basis changes and missing periods. Source: The Treasury (New Zealand).

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Government spending: NZ data and downloads: definitions

Expenses of the core Crown on an accrual basis from 1994. Treasury notes these include items such as depreciation on physical assets but not capital spending.

Government spending: NZ data and downloads: comparison limits

These affect how the figures can be compared.

  • Excludes capital spending (e.g. building a hospital is not an expense in the year it is built; depreciation is).
  • Before 1994 the comparable measure is cash "financial net expenditure", which is not directly comparable.
  • Accounting basis changes in 1997 (IFRS), 2005 (PBE restatement) and 2019/2020 (new PBE standards).

Government spending: NZ data and downloads: data by period

The latest ten periods for up to the first six series. Downloads contain every published observation.

Periodgovernment spendinggovernment spending
2024/25$141,675 million32.5% of GDP
2023/24$138,998 million33.1% of GDP
2022/23$127,574 million31.8% of GDP
2021/22$125,641 million34.4% of GDP
2020/21$107,764 million31.4% of GDP
2019/20$108,832 million34.3% of GDP
2018/19$86,959 million28.0% of GDP
2017/18$80,576 million27.3% of GDP
2016/17$76,339 million27.7% of GDP
2015/16$73,929 million28.6% of GDP

Government spending: NZ data and downloads: questions for your AI

Download the file, attach it in the assistant you use, then paste the prompt. Whatever it tells you is its reading of the data, not ours.

  1. 1Download core-crown-expenses.csv
  2. 2Attach it in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or another assistant
  3. 3
    Paste this prompt

    The attached CSV is government spending (core-crown-expenses), from The Treasury (New Zealand), Fiscal Time Series – Historical Fiscal Indicators. Describe how each measure has changed, naming its unit and period. Treat changes in basis and missing periods as breaks. Distinguish observation from explanation. Limitations: Excludes capital spending (e.g. building a hospital is not an expense in the year it is built; depreciation is). Before 1994 the comparable measure is cash "financial net expenditure", which is not directly comparable. Accounting basis changes in 1997 (IFRS), 2005 (PBE restatement) and 2019/2020 (new PBE standards).. Do not infer causation from changes during government terms.

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Government spending: NZ data and downloads: sources

The source publication, licence and snapshot used to build this page.

Organisation
The Treasury (New Zealand), Fiscal Time Series – Historical Fiscal Indicators
Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: The Treasury, Fiscal Time Series – Historical Fiscal Indicators, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Figures transformed and calculated by NZ in Numbers.
Reuse limits
Treasury logos, emblems, trade marks and website design are not covered and must not be reused.
Snapshot
data/raw/treasury-hfi/2026-10-10_de59f9028a81.xlsx
SHA256
de59f9028a81a697ee66eea04861edfd8e2c3a7e472b3b8798d976951964f70f
Retrieved
10 October 2026