3. Economy—OutlookHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of FinanceEconomy—Outlook3. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Finance: Can he confirm the results of the latest ANZ business outlook survey show employment and investment intentions are at their lowest levels since 2009; if so what effect does he think this will have on the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): I can confirm I have seen reports about the survey that indicate that is what it says. The reports I am seeing about actual business activity give me confidence that there are more people being hired and more investment in productive assets taking place and that that will have a greater effect on the economy than any particular survey.Hon Amy Adams: Well is he aware that economists at the ANZ have stated that actually investment intentions from the survey provide a very good … directional signal for GDP growth"?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: There are different views from different economists on the merits of the survey. What I am working on is the actual facts of what is happening in New Zealand. We saw for example in the terms of trade data that capital goods import volumes were up 13 percent. That means people are importing machinery and equipment that they are investing in to improve productivity. That's what is actually happening in the economy.Hon Amy Adams: Well is he aware that there has been a halving of new job growth a halving of job ads since he became the Minister of Finance and also now a sharp drop in employment intentions of New Zealand businesses?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On the matter of job ads the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's latest job ads data shows that over the past year online vacancies in fact increased by 7.1 percent—7.1 percent. Hon Amy Adams: Will he acknowledge that Government policies such as a 27 percent increase in the minimum wage stronger union powers and new and increased taxes are all contributing to an environment that makes businesses less likely to invest or to hire new staff?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I reject the premises in that question from the member. What we're doing with increasing the minimum wage is making sure that the lowest-paid people in New Zealand finally get a fair go after nine years of being neglected by that former Government.Hon Amy Adams: Does he know enough about actually running a business to understand that the more than doubling of costs for businesses under this Government compared to the last one is part of the reason the businesses are now saying they are less likely to hire staff and less likely to invest?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I reject virtually all of the premises in that question. What this Government is focused on is making sure that right across New Zealand in the cities and the regions of New Zealand there are opportunities for people to have good jobs that pay good wages so they can look after their families. I would hope the member would support that.Hon Amy Adams: I seek leave to table a document compiled by my office that pulls together all of the producer cost index data from quarter four 2008 to quarter two 2018 that has been compiled and analysed by my office.SPEAKER: It's not been the practice of my recent predecessors to allow documents produced by members or their offices to be put for tabling and I'm going to continue with that precedent.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is the finance Minister aware that the first two quarters of 2017 were down and that before the last election the ANZ economist was saying that forecast GDP growth would be 2.6 percent—way below what it is now?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Indeed the trends that we're seeing now did indeed begin at the beginning of 2017. I can reassure the member though however that the forecasters continue to tell us that over the next three years we will have on average 3 percent growth in advance of what we inherited and in advance of where we are now."