Next month's budget will redirect another $1.8 billion of lower quality government spending into high priority areas between now and 2014, Finance Minister Bill English says.Last year's budget redirected $2 billion of lower quality spending into higher pr
Next month's budget will redirect another $1.8 billion of lower quality government spending into high priority areas between now and 2014, Finance Minister Bill English says.
Last year's budget redirected $2 billion of lower quality spending into higher priority initiatives.
"That's a significant sum of money we're making available for priority areas such as better healthcare services, better education and keeping New Zealanders safe," he said in the speech to the Wellington Regional chamber of commerce.
"The government will continue to weed out low quality spending. We will live within the $1.1 billion annual operating allowance for new spending we have set ourselves, and restrict annual increases in this figure to 2 percent from 2011/12."
Mr English repeated that most government agencies would receive no budget increases over the next three or four years as the government moved to get back to budget surplus as soon as possible.
"It's clear from the work we've done so far that there is considerable scope to provide better public services by improving processes, removing duplication and reallocating resources from low quality spending to improve frontline public services," he said.
