Cost-of-Living Payment Hands NZ$350 to Lower-Income Families
More than two million New Zealanders will get a one-off NZ$350 (FJ$483.07) sweetener as part of the Budget’s centrepiece NZ$1 billion (FJ$1.38bn) cost-of-living relief package.
The temporary short-term support is counterbalanced by a record NZ$11.1bn (FJ$15.32bn) for the health system as the government scraps DHBs and replaces them with a central agency.
“Our economy has come through the COVID-19 shock better than almost anywhere else in the world,”
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement.
“But as the pandemic subsides, other challenges both long-term and more immediate, have come to the fore. This Budget responds to those challenges.”
Ongoing uncertainty over inflation, COVID-19 and the invasion of Ukraine continue to cast a pall over the economy until at least the end of the year.
A large NZ$19bn (FJ$26.23bn) deficit is expected this year, returning to surplus in 2025.
Treasury is forecasting house prices to ease and unemployment to drop as low as 3 per cent.
Cost of living
New Zealanders aged 18 and over will be eligible for the NZ$350 (FJ$483.07) payment unless they earn more than NZ$70,000 (FJ$96,645.07) a year or already receive the Winter Energy Payment.
The sum would be paid in three instalments over August, September and October, working out at roughly NZ$27 (FJ$37.28) a week.
The temporary payment is estimated to cost NZ$814 million (FJ$1123.84m) - funded out of the remaining money in the COVID-19 war-chest which is now being wound up.
The support comes with a twomonth extension to the fuel tax reduction and half-price public transport given the current high fuel prices.