However, he said the Government would continue to borrow $250 million a week for the next four years, totalling $70 billion.
The health service's budget had doubled in the past decade and KiwiSaver was an expensive inheritance from the last Labour government.
Student loans totalled $10 billion and were the Government's second-biggest portfolio.
Mr English said he was looking into changes to make it easier for Kiwis overseas to pay their student loans and would introduce changes to the tax system early next year.
His goal for 2010 was to increase investment, savings, new jobs and exports.
The economy would "bounce" back from the recession faster than economists had predicted six months ago, he said.
However, the high New Zealand dollar was a "head wind" for New Zealand businesses, particularly tourism operators, he said.
The New Zealand economy would not recover fully until United States confidence returned.
The Queenstown economy had been bolstered by the influx of Australian tourists over winter, he said.
However, business could remain "patchy" this summer.
A different mix of skills was needed to survive.
He applauded businesses for their pragmatic approach in "rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it".
He cited the YikeBike, invented by Grant Ryan and Peter Higgins, as an example of Kiwi ingenuity in recessionary times.
Mr Ryan's father Jim, of Arrowtown, was at the chamber lunch.
