5. Economy—Inherited Economic Position and ReportsDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central) to the Minister of FinanceEconomy—Inherited Economic Position and Reports5. Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central) to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he received on the Government's financial statements?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Today Treasury released the financial statements for the Government for the six months to 31 December. They showed core Crown tax revenue was $597 million higher than forecast at $40.4 billion; expenses were $166 million above forecast at $39.6 billion; and that the operating balance before gains and losses was $779 million above forecast at $1.1 billion. Meanwhile core Crown net debt was 23.2 percent of GDP at the end of December slightly lower than the 23.4 percent forecast in the half-yearly update.Dr Duncan Webb: What were the drivers for revenue coming in higher than expected?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Treasury's analysis indicates that greater than expected employment growth at the end of the year contributed to source deductions coming in at $245 million higher than they expected in their PAYE forecast released in December.Hon David Parker: What confident businesses!Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: That's right Mr Parker. Treasury noted that they expect some of this variance to be permanent and they will incorporate this positive variance into their Budget 2018 fiscal forecasts.Dr Duncan Webb: How do the December statements fit with wider economic indicators?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The trends seen in the financial statements fit with other recent indicators of economic activity. Unemployment fell to its lowest level in nine years in December and the ANZ Job Ads series for January rose by the most in three years. Meanwhile the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index rose in January at the highest rate in three years and employee confidence measured by the Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index is at its highest level in nearly a decade. Business confidence in their own activity which is most closely related with economic growth remains positive. It's early days but the sun is shining and Mr Joyce should cheer up.Hon Steven Joyce: Does this mean that the finance Minister now accepts that he possibly inherited a good economic record—SPEAKER: Order! Let's start addressing—Hon Steven Joyce: I just like to address the whole—does the finance Minister now accept that he's inherited a very good economic performance in New Zealand from the previous Government and the only statistics he forgot to mention in his recent spiel was about business confidence which is down and does he accept he will have to do something about that to maintain that good economic track record?SPEAKER: Order! I am going to let the Minister answer the question but I am going to counsel the finance spokesman for the National Party to restrict the length of his questions—succinct. One supplementary succinct—not three or four and long.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member is clearly distracted today because I did mention business confidence levels in my answer that I gave just now. The issue that the member needs to concern himself with is confidence levels in the National backbench.