Nicola Willis announces Budget date

Wednesday, 28 January 2026

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced the Budget will be held on Thursday, May 28.

Willis told Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee that it would be a responsible Budget with “no splashing the cash”.

The economy was clearly up, but the Government would demonstrate tight control of discretionary spending, she said.

Health, education and “rebuilding the capability of our defence force”, and law and order would be priorities for new spending, she made clear.

“Most agencies and most ministers have been asked to plan to manage pressures with little or no additional funding.”

The Government had made cumulative ongoing savings of $11 billion in the past two Budgets, she said.

“Savings and reprioritisation will again be key features of this Budget. I want to acknowledge that these sorts of decisions are always tough.”

Willis attributed the latest delays in the Government’s expected return to surplus to what she described as inaccurate Treasury forecasts made before the last election.

In December, the Treasury forecast the Government wouldn’t get its books back into balance until 2030 — a year later than it had predicted in the 2025 Budget — due to the delayed economic recovery.

“I think every New Zealander has experienced the recovery did not come as quickly as had been forecast by the Treasury,” Willis said.