Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The Crown's accounts, released last week, continue to reflect the resilience of the economy and the Government's balanced financial management. For the seven months to the end of January, the operating balance before gains and losses deficit was $8 billion, $3.7 billion below the forecast in December's Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update. Net core Crown debt stood at 34.5 percent of GDP—$600 million less than had been predicted, and significantly below the countries with which we compare ourselves. New Zealand is in a strong fiscal position as we deal with the impacts of the Omicron outbreak and other challenges, and it is this that gives us the ability to particularly support low and middle income earners at this time.