Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): New Zealand's economic recovery from COVID-19 continues to be reflected in the Government's books, as indicated in the Crown accounts for the eight months to February released by Treasury last week. The accounts show that the stronger than expected economy has flowed through to the Government's books, with both the operating balance before gains and losses deficit and net core Crown debt lower than forecast at the half-year update in December. This follows GDP data for the 2020 year released in recent weeks that also shows the economy was larger than expected during the past year and that activity has returned, broadly, to pre-COVID levels.