Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
The New Zealand National Party returned to government in 2008.
One of the significant and ambitious goals set by our then Finance Minister and now Prime Minister Bill English was to bring the government account back to surplus.
Over the past eight years, Mr English led the Ministry of Finance in a pragmatic manner.
And since taking over the portfolio, our current Minister of Finance Steven Joyce has ensured that the good work done by Mr English continues.
Clear focus
Our focus from the start was very clear. That we need to look at the avenues by which we can increase our tax revenues and we need to make investment based on pragmatic needs of New Zealanders.
This is why our second ambitious goal was to provide better public services.
Recently, this National led government announced that for the first nine months of the 2016-2017 financial year showed a surplus of $1.5 billion. It is compared to a forecast surplus of $147 million at the Half Year Update.
Growing tax revenues coupled with lower than expected expenditure has resulted in the higher outturn. Net debt is currently at 23.8% of GDP.
Attaining surplus
All of the above figures tell us one story. That this National-led government has remained focused on its goal of attaining a budget surplus and that we have continued to make pragmatic investments in areas that matter to New Zealanders.
Based on the results, it is clear that New Zealand is now one of the few developed countries currently running a fiscal surplus, and that is a real tribute to the hard work done by all Kiwis over the last three years.
These accounts show that if you have a strong economic plan and stick to it, you can achieve real progress
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi is Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Law & Order and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Police Minister.
