“The Europeans might go completely off their nuts and do something stupid next week but I think that’s a relatively low risk."

The New Zealand government’s books remain in woeful shape with the latest Treasury figures showing an operating deficit of $5.5 billion, $8.8 billion lower than forecast in the pre-election update.

The operating balance, for the seven months to January 31, was 312% below its forecast $2.61 billion.

However, it was slightly above the operating deficit of $6.2 billion for the six months to December.