A WARM WELCOME

Welcome to the first instalment of my monthly newsletter. The aim is to inform you - New Zealand businesses and individuals - about the Government's economic plans and get your comments and feedback. Please forward it on to others who might be interested. If you have received this from a friend and want to receive it directly you can subscribe at the bottom of the newsletter. If you received it directly and don't want to continue receiving it, you can also unsubscribe there.

Warm regards,

Bill English, Minister of Finance

THE GOVERNMENT'S ECONOMIC PLAN

This Government is making changes that will lift productivity and create new jobs. Last week I gave a speech to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle outlining those plans.

In brief they include:

• getting our regulatory regime right so business can thrive
• lifting the performance of the public sector
• investing more in productive infrastructure
• promoting greater education and skills
• developing a comprehensive innovation and business assistance package
• undertaking a stocktake of our tax system to ensure it is world class.

A lot has already been done in these areas and over the coming weeks and months you'll hear more about each of the six drivers underpinning our economic programme.

SUPPORTING JOBS

As Minister of Finance I'm firmly focused on supporting jobs during the recession and fostering the conditions and confidence businesses need to create new jobs. Treasury is forecasting that unemployment, which tends to lag other indicators, will keep rising until the middle of next year. We cannot turn back that tide but we are committed to softening the sharpest edges for New Zealanders.

We are doing this through initiatives like the home-insulation campaign. We have also dramatically increased spending on infrastructure like roading and the national grid. This not only provides jobs, but it reduces the bottlenecks that have been choking our economy.

We are also supporting our exporters. Recent initiatives include $150 million in short-term trade insurance guarantees through the Export Credit Office and extending a key trade guarantee for firms who want to do business with US government bodies.

ENCOURAGING INVESTMENT AND CUTTING RED TAPE

Another thing that helps local firms grow and create jobs is greater investment. Because we lack the capital required to fully power up our businesses ourselves we must seek some of that investment from overseas. That is why we've simplified the overseas investment rules.

Despite 98 per cent of all applications in the past eight years gaining approval, they still take 70 days on average to get the green light. We are cutting down the complexity, length of time and cost of these applications. At the same time we are committed to protecting our most sensitive land and assets. We'll announce further changes in coming weeks.

These changes are part of our commitment to cut back the excessive red tape that has been holding business back. Together with Regulatory Review Minister Rodney Hide, the Government has so far launched 15 major regulatory reviews. You can read about changes to the overseas investment rules and get an update on the regulatory reviews here.

SINGLE ECONOMIC MARKET

Steps towards a single economic market with Australia could result in big gains for our exporters and key industries like tourism. That is why I was pleased with the progress made on these issues when I met Australian Treasurer Wayne Swann in Brisbane earlier this month.

We signed a memorandum on superannuation portability, which in the near future will allow tens of thousands of Kiwis who have worked in Australia to bring back their compulsory super contributions and put them in a KiwiSaver account. 

We also discussed accelerating harmonisation of regulations and a common investment protocol. You can expect to here more about these moves in coming months. See our joint statement here.

BOND BANK

In the Budget I announced the Government's plan to spend $7.5 billion over the next five years to reduce infrastructure bottlenecks.

However, over the next decade local councils also face a big spike in costs to maintain adequate sewerage, water and roads. We are working with them to investigate setting up a 'bond bank' to ensure they get the best possible deal on the funds they will have to borrow to foot the bill.

We want to find out whether combining councils' borrowing would result in lower interest rates and costs. A joint Government and Local Government New Zealand steering group will receive a feasibility report in about a month. The idea is a Jobs Summit initiative. You can read more about it here.

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR

• On 12 August I'll speak at the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development's Building Nations symposium.
• On 13 and 14 August I'll be visiting local businesses in Northland.
• On 21 August I'll be attending the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum in Sydney, alongside Prime Minister John Key.

I WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS

I'm keen to hear your views. To comment on anything in this newsletter please click here. Your comments will be read by either myself or my staff and will be publicly available on the www.billenglish.co.nz website . If there are issues of particular interest to readers then I may comment on them in future newsletters. If you are not comfortable commenting in a public manner, you are welcome to email me at b.english@ministers.govt.nz.

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