John Key, New Zealand prime minister, was forced on Thursday to break a key pledge of his successful election campaign six months ago as his government set aside plans to cut income taxes in its new budget to protect the recession-hit nation‘s credit rating from the effects of ballooning public debt.

Delivering the country’s first budget since the conservative National party won office in November, Bill English, finance minister, warned that 15 years of government surpluses would likely be followed by a “decade of deficits”.