The role of NSW Treasury in managing the State’s budget
The role of NSW Treasury is to manage the State’s finances to best support the economy, ensuring NSW will always be a great place to live and work. In this work, NSW Treasury is guided by the Premier’s Priorities and State Priorities.
Treasury advises Government on the state’s fiscal and economic position and provides decision makers with a solid evidence base for policy development.
Treasury leads financial management across the NSW Government and provides financial and commercial advice to government to achieve better value-for-money for taxpayers.
At a national level, Treasury provides advice and analysis to Government to ensure NSW receives its fair share of federal funding in GST payments and other intergovernmental funding arrangements.
NSW fiscal strategy
The finances of NSW are managed in alignment with the legislation set out in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2012 (FRA 2012).
The FRA 2012 established the framework for fiscal responsibility and strategy needed to protect the state’s triple-A credit rating and service delivery to the people of NSW.
The FRA 2012 is supported by two fiscal targets:
- keeping expense growth below long-term revenue growth
- eliminating unfunded super liabilities by 2030.
and three principles:
- responsible and sustainable spending, taxation and investment
- effective financial and asset management
- achieving intergenerational equity.
The annual NSW State Budget
Each year, Treasury prepares the NSW Budget, which outlines the government’s revenue and expenses for the coming year, provides an overview of the state economy, and details the priorities the government will deliver.
The NSW Budget website provides access to the current financial year’s budget papers and related information. Budget papers from previous years (1988-89 onwards) can be accessed from the Budget Archives.
Half-Yearly Review
The NSW Treasurer publicly releases a Half-Yearly Review in December each year. This statement contains:
- revised projections for the current financial year and an explanation of any significant variation in those revised projections from the original budget time projections
- revised forward estimates, for major aggregates, over three years
- the latest economic projections for the current financial year and an explanation of any significant variation from the budget time projections contained in the Budget Papers
- the State’s finances.
This document can be accessed from the Budget Archives.
