A fifth successive quarter of economic growth is another sign the recovery is continuing although the figures released today show it is patchy, Finance Minister Bill English says.
Finance Minister Bill English is defending the Government's $1.6 billion bailout of South Canterbury Finance depositors, saying despite indications of the company's deterioration, there was no cause to remove it from the Crown's retail deposit guarantee scheme.
The Government plans to make progress on its "private-public partnerships" proposals, having previously said it will use the system to construct a prison at Wiri, Auckland, and may do so when new schools are considered.
The Government's proposed public-private partnerships in schools will "merely entrench inequality and disadvantage" schools, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago College of Education says.
Deputy Prime Minister and MP for Clutha-Southland Bill English says he wants to make sure his constituents get good access to neurosurgery.
Almost three weeks after the Budget, discussion continues on what it will mean for New Zealanders. Bill English restates its aims and argues that over time it will lift growth, create jobs and raise the incomes and living standards of all Kiwi families
Proposals for starting a listed New Zealand-owned, South Island-based bank have been welcomed by Minister of Finance Bill English, to fill the lending gap left by the exit of finance companies during the past two years.
The "biggest issue" facing the Government remains the cost of its external debt - forecast to spiral by 44% from $170 billion this year to $250 billion by 2014 - and its "vulnerability" to retain crucial international credit ratings.
While Bill English was seriously off-message when he gave his strongest hint yet that he wants to privatise Kiwibank, his faux pax may be a blessing in disguise for National.
The sudden resignation yesterday of Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles was being laid firmly at the feet of Finance Minister Bill English.
Public servants have been warned not to expect any extra Government expenditure in next year's Budget.
Bill English may be the only one with his name on the front cover of Thursday's Budget.
Sweeping tax reforms introduced yesterday by Minister of Finance, Bill English, were the cornerstone of his second Budget of the current Government.
Australia, the country some of our political party leaders think we should aspire to match, learned of its Federal Government's new Budget this week and the contents must be worrying our Minister of Finance and his caucus colleagues.
Positive signs are evident in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released today for the last quarter of 2009, but more work is needed for a sustainable recovery that creates jobs and lifts incomes, Finance Minister Bill English says.
New Zealand this week had its country ratings upgraded by Dun and Bradstreet. MYOB Business Monitor said the slow spread of the economic recovery has been mixed across the regions. So where does New Zealand's economy sit about a month out from the Government's much-lauded Budget? Business editor Dene Mackenzie investigates.
You would be hard pressed to find another Government-commissioned report containing as much mind-numbing mumbo-jumbo or indigestible twaddle as the one produced by the Whanau Ora task force.
Dunedin could play a pivotal part in plans to form an Asia-Pacific financial services hub in New Zealand, Dunedin businessman Craig Myles, of Myles Wealth Management, said yesterday.
Finance Minister Bill English is still warning of belt tightening in the upcoming budget, despite the Government's books turning up better than expected results for the first seven months of the financial year.
It was a day Dame Patricia Harrison thought would never come.