John Key, the Prime Minister and Tourism Minister of New Zealand, will soon announce an increase in funding for small tourism centres that attract large number of visitors.

 Bill English, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of New Zealand, has indicated in a pre-budget speech at an industry event that the budget is not likely to include tax cuts.English has indicated that the government is planning larger spending this year but is aiming to cut spending in the coming years. He said that he has taken a decision not to include a 2017 tax cut in the budget.

A leading economist in New Zealand, ShamubeelEaqub has said that the wants the government to make provisions for doubling the state housing stock from 60,000 to about 120,000 houses in the Budget.

Eaqub said, "This Government has shown little initiative on this front but I certainly hope housing will be big in this Budget because moves so far have been too marginal and too incremental to be effective. To explicitly ask the Government to step in and build houses and related infrastructure flies in the face of current thinking, yet the situation is dire."

According to the latest data, the New Zealand dollar rose to its two-month high against the Australian dollar after inflation outlook and a surge on bonds in that country put pressure on the Australian national currency.

Concerns regarding the health of global economic growth and low commodity prices are reason behind the set back in the Australian stock market. On Wednesday, it opened significantly lower after an unenthusiastic guidance from Wall Street.

The S&P ASX 200 index opened 1.1 percent down at 5,298.1 points. The benchmark lost 60.60 points or 1.13 percent in the late-morning trading.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key has said that the government is planning to introduce a land tax on offshore owners of homes in the country.