The National Debt Of New Zealand
New Zealand counts all public debt in its national debt figure. That includes the money owed by all levels of government.
The debts of state-owned enterprises are not included and neither are obligations for future state and Civil Service pensions, nor the risk of guarantees given to the nations’ bank depositors.
The IMF calculated that the gross national debt to GDP ratio stood at 29.84% at the end of 2018. This is one of the lowest debt ratios in the world.
Facts About New Zealand’s National Debt
What facts should you know about New Zealand’s national debt?
- You could wrap $1 bills around the Earth 412 times with the debt amount.
- If you lay $1 bills on top of each other they would make a pile 11,562 km, or 7,184 miles high.
- That's equivalent to 0.03 trips to the Moon.
Who Is In Charge Of New Zealand’s National Debt?
The national government of New Zealand is responsible for managing the nation’s debt. The Minister of Finance in the cabinet is the head of the Treasury of New Zealand.
This government department is tasked with managing all of the financial aspects of running the country, including raising public debt.
The parliament of New Zealand has tasked the government with getting the national debt down to 20% of GDP by 2020. If that goal is framed in terms of net debt, then that aim has already been achieved.
In terms of gross public debt, the government still has a little way to go.
Who’s Responsible For Raising New Zealand’s Debt?
A department of the Treasury called the New Zealand Debt Management Office is responsible for raising debt. The office is given a limit each year on how much debt it can raise.
As the chart above shows, the country usually undershoots that target.
Although the Reserve Bank of New Zealand isn’t involved in running the national debt, it is responsible for the money supply, and the amount of debt raised by the government influences that figure.
Types Of New Zealand Government Securities
The New Zealand Debt Management Office issues four types of securities:
- Treasury Bills: these debt instruments do not offer any interest. However, they are sold at a discount and redeemed at full face value on the maturity date.
- Benchmark Bonds: long-term financing is covered by benchmark bonds, which are also called “nominal bonds,” and inflation-indexed bonds (IIBs). They have a face value repayable on maturity. The shortest term that the government can issue from these bonds is one year. The government pays the holders of these bonds an annual interest payment. The interest rate is fixed for the duration of the bond. Each year, the calculated interest payable is divided into two and paid out in two-six months’ installments.
- Inflation-Linked Bonds: Inflation-indexed bonds also have maturities of more than a year and they also pay a fixed interest rate each year. The face value of the bond increases with inflation each year, so the actual amount received in interest each year increases and the final redemption value of the bond increases with inflation. The interest payable for a year is divided into four and paid out quarterly.
- Retail Bonds: also called Kiwi Bonds and are really a format of debenture or deposit, rather than a bond.
The first three categories are offered as commercial investments.
The Two Categories Of Government Securities
The commercial securities offered by the government of New Zealand fall into two categories:
- Short-term instruments — these cover a period under one year.
- Long-term instruments — these cover a period of over one year.
It is common practice for governments to offer a range of maturities on its short-term debt instruments. New Zealand issues its Treasury bills for periods of 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year (minus one day).
As of 30 April 2018, the New Zealand government had a total value of outstanding bonds of NZ$ 77.7 billion and NZ$ 4.1 billion of Treasury bills outstanding.
By October 2020, the New Zealand government had a total of NZ$ 13.3335 billion in outstanding securities.
How Does The Nzdmo Sell Government Bonds?
The initial sale of government bonds is called the “primary issuance,” or “primary market.” Sales of nominal bonds, IIBs, and Treasury bills are held by auction.
The NZDMO issues a schedule for these sales at the beginning of each quarter. Bond sales are usually held every Thursday, while Treasury bill auctions take place every other Tuesday.
Only authorized dealers are allowed to bid in these primary sales. All other investors need to buy their bonds through the secondary market, which is overseen by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
What Is New Zealand’s Credit Rating?
The government of New Zealand has never defaulted on its debt and it has never paid interest or capital redemptions late.
This is one of the reasons that the country has a very good long-term credit rating. The assessments of the three major credit rating agencies are shown in the table below.
Rating Agency Local Currency Foreign Currency Latest Update
Moody's Investor Service Aaa (stable outlook) Aaa (stable outlook) April 2020
Standard & Poor's AA+ (stable outlook) AA+ (positive outlook) May 2020
Fitch Ratings AA+ (stable outlook) AA+ (stable outlook) Jan 2020
Who Holds New Zealand’s Debt?
The categories of investors that own New Zealand government securities and the percentage holdings of each group are shown in the table below.
Investor category Nominal Bonds (NZ$m) Inflation-indexed Bonds (NZ$m) Treasury bills (NZ$m) Kiwi Bonds (NZ$m)
Financial Corporations 65,168 3,609 9,154 2
Non-financial corporations 6 1 0 1
Central government 2,523 9,690 465 -
Local Government 55 1 21 -
Non-Profit Institutions 2 1 - -
Households 428 67 1 220
Non-Residents 31,821 5,379 84 -
Unallocated 1 1 - -
Residents Repo 269 2 -
Non-Residents Repo -514 312 -
Total Amount in NZ$m 100,004 18,750 9,725 226
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Further Reading
To learn about national debt in other nations, see our live debt clocks for:
We also have a directory of economic overviews on GDP, imports, and exports for countries like the US, UK, Pakistan, Spain, Italy, and Germany.
