2013 New Zealand budget
The New Zealand budget for fiscal year 2013/14 was presented to the New Zealand House of Representatives by Finance Minister Bill English on 16 May 2013. This was the fifth budget English has presented as Minister of Finance. Outline. Budget 2013 "progressed the Government's programme while on track to surplus": (All figures for four years to 2016/17 unless otherwise stated). The 2013 budget re-iterated the Government's targets – returning to surplus by 2014/15 and bringing net government debt back down to 20% of GDP by 2020: Budget 2013 confirmed the Government's decisions to  cap and reduce debt: Public services. The Ministerial Committee on Poverty has endorsed a number of important initiatives to help low-income families. They include: Welfare. $188.6 million extra over four years in social welfare. This follows a $287.5 million investment in Budget 2012, and includes: Health. $1.6 billion additional is to be spent on public health over four years for new health initiatives and to meet cost pressures and population growth. This takes total health spending to $14.7 billion in 2013/14. $1 billion of this extra funding goes to District Health Boards to take  account of population changes and inflationary pressures. Extra health spending over the next four years includes: Education. In the current year and over the next four years, around $900 million extra will be spent on education initiatives across early childhood, primary and secondary education. The total spending in these sectors will be $9.7 billion in 2013/14. Extra education spending in the current year and over the next four years includes: More than $130 million over four years and reprioritised funding in tertiary education. It includes: Reactions. Business New Zealand welcomed the budget, but also added that it  wanted to see "bolder reform in the areas such as retirement savings and age of eligibility for superannuation and interest-free student loans." President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, Helen Kelly said the budget "has not addressed the big issues" and said the budget did nothing to "support struggling families; it does not do enough to alleviate our shocking child poverty and continues to prioritise short-term debt reduction over creating jobs and fairness."