New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English has become more stringent in managing Government's finances, saying preliminary Budget estimates in recent weeks had revealed a $1-billion worsening of the forecasts for 2014-2015.

The statement of Mr English comes as a sign that there will be cuts to future new spending provisions in order to achieve a surplus.

Further cuts will happen despite the previously-announced plan to dump the $800m allotted for new spending this year in favour of a near-zero Budget.

Without further cutting measures, that would have seen a deficit of $640m in 2014/15 instead of the $370m surplus forecast in the Budget Policy Statement, English told the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Dominion Post reported.

"It's important that we return to surplus because New Zealand is one of the most indebted countries in the world as measured by our net international investment position," he said, adding, "We need to start rebuilding a buffer for when the next global crisis comes along. Surpluses give us choices we simply don't have while we're running deficits."

While tightening the screws on Government's finances, Mr English stressed Government would follow a balanced approach by "keeping up entitlements to welfare and superannuation, and continuing with large programmes like Working for Families and interest-free student loans."