The New Zealand government released Budget 2023 on Thursday which contains a package of cost-of-living measures to ease the pressure for New Zealand households.
The new budget includes new policies such as cheaper childcare which extends 20 hours of free early childhood education (ECE) to two-year-olds. This will be a major saving for families and will reduce barriers for working parents to take on more hours if they can. Based on average costs in 2023, families who were not previously receiving childcare subsidies would save an estimated 133.2 New Zealand dollars (83.37 U.S. dollars) a week in childcare costs if a two-year-old child attended the ECE.—Xinhua
