Spreadsheet breakthough!

I think NZ's aid for the coming fyr will be almost identical to the amount it was projected to be at the beginning of last fyr. No increase in that sense.

However, 1/4

@JamieTahana @AnnaPowles @MCrawshawNZ @ashbetteridge @josprattnz @SharonBell_NZ

we have triennial aid budgets in NZ (sort of). We are in the third year of the triennium (sp?). It turns out we overspent planned amounts in last 2 years by about $50M.

Which would normally see this year's spend fall. But it's now not planned to...(2/4

so the triennial budget has increased by about $50M. Not really an increase this year. But if we'd stuck to original triennial plan, aid would have had to fall this year. So an increase vis a vis that counterfactual. Good news in that sense. A win for Winston and @MFATNZ. 3/4

At least that's my preliminary guess. It's confusing. The Australian Orange books would be a great aspiration for us. (4/4) https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-20-aus-aid-budget-at-a-glance.pdf