- New Zealand Treasury
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The Treasury Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa 
New Zealand Treasury logo Agency overview Jurisdiction New Zealand Headquarters 1 The Terrace, Wellington
41°16′45″S 174°46′32″E / 41.279090°S 174.775684°EMinister responsible Bill English, Minister of Finance Agency executive John Whitehead, Secretary to the Treasury Child agency Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit Website http://www.treasury.govt.nz/ The New Zealand Treasury (in Māori, Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa) is a public sector organisation and the Government’s lead advisor on economic and financial policy. Its role is to help the Government improve economic performance and manage scarce resources. The Treasury has four main functions:
- Providing advice to improve the economic and fiscal conditions for high levels of economic growth and improved living standards.
- Monitoring and managing the financial affairs of the Crown.
- Assessing and testing other agencies’ advice and proposals which have economic and financial implications.
- Providing leadership, with other central agencies, to develop a high-performing State sector.
The Minister of Finance, Bill English, is the Minister responsible for the Treasury. The current Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Executive is John Whitehead.
Contents
History
The Treasury is one of New Zealand’s oldest institutions, having been first established in 1840. Initially the Treasury consisted of just a few officials responsible for managing the Government’s day-to-day financial affairs. In the 1920s the department took on a supervisory role over other departments’ spending and oversight of government borrowing.
However, the most dramatic change to the role of the Treasury came in the 1950s when the department began to develop its role as economic advisor to the Government. The Treasury “hit the spotlight” in this role during a wave of far-reaching economic reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s. This period also coincided with a general shift towards higher scrutiny of government activity and performance, making the Finance portfolio and Treasury operations more transparent.
Since the 1950s, the Treasury has evolved from being a control agency to a “central agency”. During this time, departments have become largely free to manage their own resources, with the Treasury’s role being to provide central agency leadership, coordination and monitoring.
Today the Treasury employs just over 300 people, is the Government’s lead advisor on economic and financial policy, and has the overall vision of helping governments achieve higher living standards for New Zealanders.
Role
Specific areas of work undertaken by the Treasury include:
- advice on the government’s economic strategy and macroeconomic policies
- advice on financial and public sector management systems in use across the Crown
- advice on tax strategy, including the objectives of the tax system and the choice and mix of taxes
- advice on Budget strategy and the design of the Budget process. This includes managing the Budget initiatives process and producing the Budget documents
- preparation and publication of macroeconomic, tax revenue and fiscal forecasts, and monitoring of the domestic and international economies
- preparation and publication of monthly and annual consolidated Crown financial statements
- management of the Crown’s debt portfolio and associated financial investments
- management of commercial, contractual and Treaty of Waitangi-related claims against the Crown
- advice on the Crown’s ownership interests in Crown companies including state-owned enterprises (SOEs), Crown financial institutions and Air New Zealand
- advice on policy interventions, departmental votes and Crown entities to ensure the state’s resources and powers are used effectively to achieve the desired results.
List of Secretaries to the Treasury
The Secretary to the Treasury is the public service head of the department.
Name Dates George Cooper 1840–1842 Alexander Shepherd 1842–1856 Christopher Richmond 1857–1858 G. C. Rodda 1935–1939 Bernard Ashwin 1939–1955 Noel Davis -1968 Henry Lang 1968–1977 Bernie Galvin 1980–1986 Graham Scott 1986–1993 Alan Bollard 1998 – April 2002 John Whitehead 8 April 2003 - 1 June 2011 Gabriel Makhlouf (Acting) 1 June 2011 - The New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO)
The NZDMO is the part of The Treasury responsible for managing the Crown’s debt, its cash flows and its interest-bearing deposits.
The 1988 reforms of the Government’s financial management led to its establishment with the aim of improving the management of the Government’s debt portfolio.[1]
COMU
The Crown owns many companies, which are include State-Owned Enterprises, Crown Entities, and Crown Research Institutes. The Crown is assisted in the running of SOEs and other Crown-owned companies by the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit or COMU (pronounced "com-U") within Treasury.
External links
References
Categories:- Government of New Zealand
- Government agencies of New Zealand
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