Kuriger Barbara: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKuriger Barbara: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10144. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country) to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received showing total New Zealand exports are growing despite the dairy downturn?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Reports of continued export growth and diversification. Statistics New Zealand reports that in 2015 total exports rose by $1.9 billion supported by a $2.3 billion increase in spending by international visitors and an increase of $895 million in exports of meat products. Partly offsetting this was a $3 billion fall in dairy exports. Other exports are also growing. Annual beef exports are up a third in the last year; international education is now worth $3.1 billion in 2015 supporting 30000 jobs; and wine exports are now worth $1.5 billion up 14 percent in the year.Barbara Kuriger: What reports has he received showing improvement in the net international investment position supported in part by growing exports?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The net international investment position measures New Zealand’s total level of indebtedness to the rest of the world—that is Government households and the private sector. Statistics New Zealand reports this is now 61.4 percent of GDP which is a considerable improvement from the peak in early 2009 when it reached 84 percent of GDP. Net external debt is now 55 percent of GDP down from a peak of 83 percent in 2008. We are moving steadily in the right direction of reducing New Zealand’s indebtedness to the rest of the world. The Government is supporting further improvements by staying on top of spending and remaining on track to pay down debt.Barbara Kuriger: How are higher household savings helping to support resilience in the New Zealand economy?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Since the global financial crisis New Zealand households are saving more probably because they were a bit frightened by the prospect of financial meltdown then. This is reflected in part through higher bank deposits. The latest figures from the Reserve Bank show household deposits in banks totalled $152 billion in February 2016. That is up over 10 percent in the last year and growth in deposits has been 7.8 percent per year since 2009. In fact household deposits in banks have doubled in just 8½ years since August 2007. It means many householders will be better placed to manage through uncertainty.Barbara Kuriger: What recent reports has he seen on trends in household debt?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Interesting trends. Last week the Reserve Bank reported home mortgage lending increased 7.9 percent from the year previous to a total of $214 billion. This growth rate compares with an annual growth rate of 4.8 percent a year earlier. So it has picked up. Overall household debt to disposable income reached 162 percent which is high by international standards. However the ratio of household debt servicing is down because of lower interest rates. So debt levels are higher but the cost of servicing that debt has dropped from 9.5 percent of disposable income to 9.1 percent of disposable income.