Is the government running a deficit?
The total Crown recorded a deficit before gains and losses (OBEGAL) of $14.0 billion (The Treasury (New Zealand), 2024/25).
Updated
The Crown's surplus or deficit before gains and losses, revenue less expenses, excluding volatile changes in the value of financial assets and liabilities. Treasury describes it as a more direct indication of the government's underlying stewardship than the full operating balance. OBEGALx (excluding ACC) is shown alongside.
A balance that moves between surplus and deficit, percentage changes are not meaningful; compare levels or % of GDP. Covers the total Crown, not only the core Crown.
Dividing a national total by population puts it on a human scale. Spending per person is an average across the country; the amount spent on each person varies with their circumstances.
Read the period beside each number before comparing it with another figure. A monthly observation, a quarterly result and a financial year cover different spans of time. The latest release can also revise earlier observations. The chart and downloads keep the published periods so you can check which figures are being compared. A change in deficit or surplus describes what happened during that period; it does not by itself explain why it happened or identify the effect of a government policy. Definitions and coverage matter as much as the size of a change.
Total Crown operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was $−12,854 million in 2023/24, a year earlier.
The earliest observation on the same basis was $7,075 million in 2004/05.
Deficit or surplus: definitions
The Crown's surplus or deficit before gains and losses, revenue less expenses, excluding volatile changes in the value of financial assets and liabilities. Treasury describes it as a more direct indication of the government's underlying stewardship than the full operating balance. OBEGALx (excluding ACC) is shown alongside.
- A balance that moves between surplus and deficit, percentage changes are not meaningful; compare levels or % of GDP.
- Covers the total Crown, not only the core Crown.
Show the figures
| Period | Total Crown operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) ($m) |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | $−13,973 million |
| 2023/24 | $−12,854 million |
| 2022/23 | $−9,446 million |
| 2021/22 | $−9,691 million |
| 2020/21 | $−4,560 million |
| 2019/20 | $−23,057 million |
| 2018/19 | $7,429 million |
| 2017/18 | $5,534 million |
| 2016/17 | $4,069 million |
| 2015/16 | $1,831 million |
| 2014/15 | $414 million |
| 2013/14 | $−2,802 million |
| 2012/13 | $−4,414 million |
| 2011/12 | $−9,240 million |
| 2010/11 | $−18,396 million |
| 2009/10 | $−6,315 million |
| 2008/09 | $−3,893 million |
| 2007/08 | $5,637 million |
| 2006/07 | $5,860 million |
| 2005/06 | $7,091 million |
Fiscal years. Year ended 31 March to 1989, year ended 30 June from 1990 (the April–June 1989 quarter falls between the two).. Source: The Treasury (New Zealand). Lines break at basis changes and missing periods.
Deficit or surplus: questions for your AI
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The attached CSV is Operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL), from The Treasury (New Zealand). Answer: Is the government running a deficit? Name the unit and period. Use only directly supported observations. Definitions: The Crown's surplus or deficit before gains and losses, revenue less expenses, excluding volatile changes in the value of financial assets and liabilities. Treasury describes it as a more direct indication of the government's underlying stewardship than the full operating balance. OBEGALx (excluding ACC) is shown alongside. Limits: A balance that moves between surplus and deficit, percentage changes are not meaningful; compare levels or % of GDP. Covers the total Crown, not only the core Crown.
More questions about deficit or surplus
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Deficit or surplus: 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