When Rodney Hide complained last year that the Government "wasn't doing anything" the point he was trying to make was that it hadn't set a course for the sort of economic reform it had talked about before the election.

Wellington, March 12 NZPA - The public sector will need to deal with a budget increase which will include only $1.1 billion of new money compared to more than double that in previous years, Finance Minister Bill English says.

By Ian Llewellyn of NZPA Wellington, March 10 NZPA - The wholesale funding guarantee offered to banks is being wound up but the much larger retail guarantee is still expected to stay in place until the end of 2011 and pay out $771 million.

Wellington, March 10 NZPA - The Government is to close New Zealand's wholesale funding guarantee on April 30, Finance Minister Bill English says.

By Ian Llewellyn of NZPA Wellington, March 5 NZPA - The patchy state of the economy has been revealed by the latest set of government accounts.

Wellington, March 5 NZPA - 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.

Wellington, March 3 NZPA - A group campaigning for a new Auckland harbour bridge has welcomed the Government acknowledging the need for a second crossing, but says more ambition is needed.

Wellington, March 3 NZPA - A group campaigning for a new Auckland harbour bridge has welcomed the Government acknowledging the need for a second crossing, but says more ambition is needed.

If GST rises in the upcoming budget then superannuation payments would immediately rise by 2 percent in addition to any tax cuts that would apply, Prime Minister John Key said today.

Wellington, Feb 25 NZPA - MPs trimmed back their taxpayer funded expenses in the last three months of last year due to the start of the long summer break and more discipline.