Finance Minister Bill English said in his Budget Policy Statement that the forecast finance cost savings over the mixed ownership programme exceeded the forecast forgone dividends.
"However, those savings are less than the total forecast forgone profits of the SOEs, which include both dividends and retained earnings."
That was because the state-owned companies were expected to earn a commercial rate of return that reflected the risk of owning such companies, he said.
The Government planned to sell down its stake to 51% in Mighty River Power, Meridian, Genesis, Solid Energy and Air New Zealand.
Since the pre-election financial update (Prefu), the Government had been re-elected to proceed with the programme over the next three years or so.
Scoping studies had been completed, Mr English said.
The forecast fiscal impact was. -
• A $6 billion reduction in net debt. Proceeds will fund new capital investment such as schools and hospitals, reducing the Government's borrowing programme.
• A small reduction in the operating balance before gains and losses. Profits attributable to minority shareholders (forgone profits) will reduce the surplus. This is partly offset by a reduction in finance costs on the reduced debt.
• A small increase in the operating balance over the forecast horizon.
Gains on sales are forecast, based on an assumption of $6 billion of proceeds from the mixed ownership programme exceeding the current book value of net assets to be sold.
Labour Party finance spokesman David Parker said the decision to sell the assets did not address the fundamental problems with the economy.
The Government's advisers said that unless it made structural changes to tax, savings and investment policies, New Zealand's current account deficit would be $17 billion by 2016, funded by borrowing and asset sales.
"Our net liabilities to the world, the main reasons for New Zealand's credit downgrades last year, get worse. Blaming others for the problems they have responsibility to fix becomes more difficult for second-term governments, as they have already had three years," Mr Parker said.
Figures supplied by Treasury to Mr English showed that New Zealand's operating loss was expected to be $12.1 billion this year, $5.6 billion next year, $2.2 billion in 2014 before returning to a $370 million surplus in 2015.
Given events in Europe, and the weakened outlook for global growth, the forecast surplus was understandably smaller than the forecast before the election. But the Government remained on its financial target, he said.
If the economy was hit by a "very severe negative shock" the Government would reconsider its commitment to the surplus, the BPS said.
Mr English said the Government would keep its operating budget allowance for new spending at $800 million over the next two years, rising to $1.2 billion in the following year, and growing an annual 2% beyond that.
The Treasury predicted New Zealand's labour market to remain tough, with the unemployment rate falling below 6% in 2013, rather than the 2012 year previously forecast.
Inflation was likely to remain softer than previously thought, and the consumer price index was expected to hold at an annual 2% pace in the 2012 and 2013 years, rising to 2.3% then 2.4% in the subsequent years.
The Treasury flagged a worse-than-expected current account deficit, which would rise to 6.5% of GDP in 2014 then 6.9% the next two years, due to an increase in investment related to the Canterbury rebuild.
