3. Economic Outlook—Reports Forecasts and ConfidenceNUK KORAKO (National) to the Minister of FinanceEconomic Outlook—Reports Forecasts and Confidence3. NUK KORAKO (National) to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received on the prospects for the New Zealand economy?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Finance): I have received a number of reports that show strong prospects for growth including last week's Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Statement. There is also the latest Performance of Services Index data out yesterday which says the economy remains firmly in expansion mode with a reading of 56 points in July. That sector's overall activity remains above the long-term average with the employment and new business expectations the clear standouts in July. The services sector accounts for around two-thirds of the New Zealand economy and has now been in expansion for 6 continuous years.Nuk Korako: How is the manufacturing side of the economy faring?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Good question. Like the services sector the manufacturing sector is also performing well with the manufacturing index reading of 55.4 points in July. All five of the sub-indices—production employment new orders finished stock and deliveries—remained firmly in expansion in the month. The manufacturing sector has now been in expansion since October 2012 almost 6 years of continuous expansion—in fact roughly since the Labour Party started declaring it a crisis. The momentum looks set to continue with BNZ economist Doug Steel saying it bodes well for manufacturing GDP growth to continue outperforming its long-run average as it has for the last 3 years.Nuk Korako: How does New Zealand's economic performance compare with other countries?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Both the Reserve Bank and the OECD forecast that New Zealand's economic growth will come in around 3 percent for this year. This compares with expected growth rates for the UK of 1.6 percent—Rt Hon Winston Peters: That's rubbish. Take off immigration.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: —1.6 percent Mr Peters—the US of 2.1 percent and Australia of 2.5 percent. This is an important reminder that it is only through a growing economy that we are able to increase the number of jobs lift after-tax wages and of course pay for the Family Incomes Package which comes into effect in April next year.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Minister if your population growth rate is 2 percent and your GDP is at 3 percent then 1 percent does not cut it and it is down the bottom of the OECD—why do you not tell the public the truth?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The member I think suffers from what I call the Peters fallacy" which is that he thinks that it is immigration that drives growth but it is growth that drives immigration. The reason people want to work in this country instead of over in Australia like they have been for almost his entire adult life—which is quite a long time—is that this country is growing these days. They used to export the kids to Australia; now Australia exports the kids to New Zealand.Nuk Korako: What is underpinning the very high levels of confidence in the economy?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I am tempted to believe that it is because most businesses do not listen to the MP for Northland. The Government's ongoing programme of economic reform underpins the confidence the economy has seen over a number of years. Whether it is maintaining our broad based - low rate tax system keeping debt down or providing core infrastructure our strong economic plan is giving businesses the confidence to invest to hire more people and to compete on the world stage. It is the intention of this Government to continue to support this confidence and not choke it off with a whole bunch of new taxes."