Ross Jami-Lee: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoss Jami-Lee: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:12799. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) to theMinister of Finance: What progress is the Government making in building a more competitive and productive economy and how is this helping New Zealand families?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): We are making good progress on building a productive and competitive economy. Confidence among households and businesses is improving exports and jobs are growing and this is helping New Zealand families get ahead. Despite the impact of the drought earlier this year the economy grew 2.4 percent in the 12 months to March and almost all forecasts show New Zealand on track for 2 to 3 percent growth over the next few years. This helps all those who have jobs to be more confident that their jobs are secure. And for those who are looking for jobs they can be more confident that there will be opportunities for them. This is good news for New Zealand families.Jami-Lee Ross: According to the latest economic data what are some of the benefits being delivered to families from the improving economic outlook?Hon BILL ENGLISH: First it is important to acknowledge that the circumstances of every single family are different and of course the economy remains challenging for a number of families but there are some helpful indicators. The annual increase in the cost of living is the lowest in 14 years. Floating home mortgage interest rates are the lowest in almost 50 years although there is an expectation that they will start increasing over the next 12 months. There are around 46000 more jobs in the economy than 6 months ago. On average in the past 2 years wages have been rising faster than the cost of living. This of course gives families a bit more headroom to continue doing what they are doing and that is get on top of their debt and realise some of their aspirations.Jami-Lee Ross: What measures has the Government taken to support lower and middle income families during the past 4½ years particularly through a fairer tax and income support system?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Despite the recession and the fact that the Government has had significant deficits we have made supporting lower and middle income New Zealanders a priority. We have maintained large Government support programmes such as Working for Families paid parental leave accommodation subsidies and interest-free student loans. Over the past two Budgets we have invested more than $470 million to support more New Zealanders out of welfare. Households earning under $60000 a year—which is half of all households—will pay around $2.7 billion of income tax but they will receive more than $8.1 billion in income support which means that households earning under $60000 a year are large net recipients of income support.Jami-Lee Ross: How is the New Zealand economy performing compared with other developed countries?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Recently the Reserve Bank Governor noted that New Zealand would be one of the fastest-growing developed economies in the world which I thought was probably a bit optimistic so we went to check. New Zealand’s 2.4 percent growth in the year to March compares favourably with the US which grew 1.8 percent Canada 1.4 percent Japan 0.2 percent and the UK 0.6 percent. The euro area contractedby 1.1 percent. Australia grew 2.5 percent in the year to March. So for many families New Zealand is the best place in the developed world to be if they want job security and the opportunity for a higher income.