WELLINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government accounts showed a surplus of 2.5 billion NZ dollars (1.8 billion U.S. dollars), although about 1 billion NZ dollars of that is due to timing differences that are expected to reverse out in May, Finance Minister Steven Joyce said on Tuesday.
"While the accounts for the year-to-date are 1.6 billion NZ dollars stronger than was forecast at the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update, the bulk of this change is due to a timing difference of company taxes," Joyce said in a release.
"Treasury and Inland Revenue expect most of that to reverse in May, and at this stage Treasury expects the 2016-2017 accounts to be broadly as forecast," he said.
The government revenue was 1.1 billion NZ dollars higher than expected for the 10-month period, while government expenditure was 400 million NZ dollars less than what was expected, according to the release.
Net debt is currently at 24 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"It is important not to take too much from a single month's figures particularly because of the timing differences noted by the Treasury," Joyce said.
"However, the accounts overall do underline the government's improving fiscal position as a result of our strong economic plan," he said.
"It is only by having this strong economic plan that we get to make the sort of choices we were able to make in the recent budget, and only a strong economic plan will give us the capacity to make more positive decisions into the future," he said.
