Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021

Financial and accountability matters - Funding agreements and annual dividend - Funding agreements

210: Contents of funding agreements

You could also call this:

"What the Reserve Bank's funding agreement must include"

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A funding agreement is a document that says how the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will spend its money. You need to know it must be in writing, dated, and signed by the Minister and two board members. It must say how the Bank will spend its money over five years, including how much it will spend in total. The agreement must also separate capital expenditure, which is money spent on big items like buildings, and operating expenditure, which is money spent on everyday costs. The agreement must follow generally accepted accounting practice, which is a set of rules that accountants use to make sure money is counted correctly. It must also come with a budget that says what the main areas of spending will be. You can think of a budget like a plan for how to spend your money. A funding agreement can also talk about other things, like spending money on items that will take more than five years to pay for. It can say what will happen if there are big changes in the Bank's operating environment, which is like the world around the Bank. The Bank and the Minister can agree on other things to include in the agreement, as long as they do not contradict this section. The budget is a separate document from the funding agreement, it is not part of it. You can compare this to a previous law, the 1989 law, to see how it has changed.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS287207.

This page was last updated on 1 January 2026 — View changes

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209: Funding agreements, or

"The Reserve Bank's funding agreement explains how much money it can spend each year."

211: Funding agreements to be published and presented to House of Representatives, or

"The Reserve Bank must share its funding agreements with the public and Parliament."

Part 5Financial and accountability matters
Funding agreements and annual dividend: Funding agreements

210Contents of funding agreements

A funding agreement must—
be in writing, be dated, and be signed by the Minister and by 2 members on behalf of the board; and
provide for the Bank’s expenditure for each of the 5 consecutive financial years to which it applies; and
provide for the Bank’s total expenditure over that period of 5 consecutive financial years; and
separately provide for capital expenditure and operating expenditure; and
provide for the items that may, in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice, properly be taken into account in determining the operating and capital expenditure applicable to the Bank’s functions or powers; and
be accompanied by a budget for the Bank’s expenditure over the 5 consecutive financial years to which the agreement applies, which must contain sufficient detail to determine the main expenditure classes the Bank proposes to undertake.

A funding agreement may provide for—
funding for items of expenditure that may be required to extend beyond the 5 consecutive financial years to which the agreement applies:
the extent, if any, to which any material change in the Bank’s operating environment will require the level or levels of expenditure to be redetermined between the Bank and the Minister:
any other matters that the Bank and the Minister think fit (not being matters that are inconsistent with this section).

The budget under subsection (1)(f) is not part of the funding agreement.

Compare

1989 No 157 s 160