Govt sets new spending record for contractors and consultants

Contractors were involved in rolling out the covid vaccine. (Image: NZME)

Mon, 24 Oct 2022

Covid vaccinations and work on major reform projects has caused public service spending on contractors and consultants to skyrocket by more than $300 million.The growth came from operational spending (opex), which increased by more than half, from $610m in 2021 to $927m in 2022, while capital expenditure went down 4%, from $332m to $317m.The opex as a share of total public service workforce spend (that is, including employees), went from a record low of 10.3% in 2021 to a record high of 14.6% in 2022.Five departments accounted for nearly two-th...

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