Finance Minister Bill English goes to the printers this morning to watch his budget roll off the presses, and it's really only the details that still have to be revealed when he delivers it tomorrow.
Prime Minister John Key has given clear indications of most of its core provisions -- there will be a record deficit of more than $16 billion, there won't be any new money in it and increased funding for health, education, justice and infrastructure will come from savings in other departments.
The changes to KiwiSaver and Working for Families have been well signalled although the fine print is still to be seen, and the public service is in for another round of cost-cutting.
Mr Key says the budget will set an overall savings figure for the public service and the amount each department has to cut still has to be worked out.
Mr Key told reporters yesterday "I can't tell you exactly what mergers may or may not take place...but it is likely there will be a reduction in the number of departments".
However, the full extent of the Government's plans may not be made clear even in time for the November election.
"There's a number of departments that we're looking at, and questions are being asked, but no conclusion has been reached yet," he said.
"There's no one cookie cutter model that will work but we think that there are gains that can be made overall."
One of the budget's main aims is to avoid a downgrade by the international credit rating agencies, which will be looking at the Government's debt repayment programme.
Mr Key has said the budget will put the Government on a good path to manage that, and he's confident the agencies will take notice of that.
