Covid-19 Lessons Learned (Royal Commission, New Zealand), "7.1 Government spending on the pandemic"

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Part 7.1, Government spending on the pandemic, of the Covid by the Numbers report of New Zealand's Royal Commission on Covid-19 Lessons Learned. It says the New Zealand Government allocated $70.4 billion to public health measures and economic supports during and after the pandemic: an initial response package of $12.1 billion and a further $58.4 billion from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, which was formally closed on 19 May 2022 though some initiatives were forecast to run to 2026. Spending is organised by Votes, each the responsibility of a Minister, and the Treasury's breakdown by Vote in Figure 103 totals $74.3 billion, of which $4 billion was returned unspent, leaving $70.3 billion. Notes add that not all Shovel-ready Programme projects were complete as of January 2026 and that Jobs for Nature ran until June 2025.

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COVID-19 by the Numbers

7.1 Government spending on the pandemic Ngā whakapaunga a te kāwanatanga mō te mate urutā

Covid by the Numbers Report

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7.1. Government spending on the pandemic | Ngā whakapaunga a te kāwanatanga mō te mate urutā

The New Zealand Government allocated $70.4 billion to public health measures and economic supports during and after the pandemic. This consisted of an initial response package of $12.1 billion, and a further $58.4 billion from a funding envelope called the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund. 34 , 35

The COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund was formally closed on 19 May 2022. However, many initiatives continued into subsequent years, managed through standard fiscal processes. At the time of closure some initiatives were forecast to have continued expenditure out to 2026.

The spending proposals in Budgets are divided into areas known as 'Votes'. Each Vote is the responsibility of a particular Minister or Ministers. In presenting the Budget, the Government asks Parliament for specific amounts of money ('appropriations') to be made available to be spent in each Vote. 36

The New Zealand Treasury has broken down COVID-19 spending in various ways. The funding allocated to each Vote is depicted in Figure 103, totalling $74.3 billion. (Of that total, $4 billion was returned unspent, leaving $70.3 billion.)

Over one-third of all funding went to Vote Social Development, 37 half as much went to Vote Revenue, 38 with the third largest amount going Vote Health. These three Votes accounted for two-thirds of the total amount.

Figure 103: Total COVID-19 funding allocation by Vote, New Zealand

Source: The Treasury, 'COVID-19 Response and Recovery Funding – Allocation', last updated 14 June 2023, https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/covid-19-economic-response/overview-covid-19-response-and-recovery-fund-crrf/covid-19-response-and-recovery-funding-allocation Notes: 1. The allocations in the figure add to $74.3b, reflecting the amounts allocated before the $4.0 billion of offsets from the November 2020 and September 2021 funding returns. The figures do not add up exactly to the $70.4 billion total allocation figure due to rounding. 2. The allocations cover the time period of 2019/20 to 2025/26 and outyears.

In terms of what the money was spent on, by far the largest expenditure (appropriation) was the Wage Subsidy Scheme (Table 6).

Table 6: New Zealand Government expenditure by COVID-19 specific appropriations

Significant initiatives, 2019/20 to 2021/22

Appropriation name | Actual $m
Business Support Subsidy COVID-19 (i.e. Wage Subsidy Scheme) | 17,996
COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment | 2,912
National Response to COVID-19 Across the Health Sector | 2,705
Infrastructure Reference Group Projects (i.e. Shovel-ready Programme)40 | 2,500
Small Business Cashflow Scheme COVID-19 | 2,263
Implementing the COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy | 1,709
Isolation and Quarantine Management (MIQ) | 1,568
COVID-19 Support Payment | 1,307
Jobs for Nature programme41 | 1,200

Source: The Treasury, 'COVID-19 Response and Recovery – What has been achieved?', last updated 24 April 2025, https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/covid-19-economic-response/overview-covid-19-response-and-recovery-fund-crrf/covid-19-response-and-recovery-what-has-been-achieved

34 The Treasury, 'COVID-19 Response and Recovery Funding – Allocation', https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/covid-19-economic-response/overview-covid-19-response-and-recovery-fund-crrf/covid-19-response-and-recovery-funding-allocation , last updated Wednesday, 14 June 2023

35 The numbers in this section do not always sum to the totals given due to rounding.

36 New Zealand Parliament, 'Select committees and the Budget', last updated 6 March 2025, https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/the-budget/select-committees-and-the-budget/

37 The $26 billion allocated to Vote Social Development was used for the Wage Subsidy Scheme, along with emergency financial assistance and expanded social support services to address increased demand for benefits and other social support during the pandemic.

38 The $13.2 billion allocated to Vote Revenue was largely used to support tax relief and revenue forgone measures, as well as major business support initiatives such as the Small Business Cashflow Scheme and Resurgence Support Payment.

39 Not all Shovel-ready Programme projects have been completed as of January 2026.

40 Jobs for Nature ran until June 2025.

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