New Zealand will boost funding for both defence and foreign affairs in its upcoming budget, in a move likely to please its international partners.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will come good on campaign pledges to shrink the public service and "right-size the government's footprint" when she unveils the budget on May 30.
With the government books in structural deficit, the country's new government led by Chris Luxon has ordered agency chiefs to find savings of around seven per cent, with full cuts to be revealed on budget day.