Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:611;Page:8192] 
5.  
CLAYTON COSGROVE (NZ Labour—Waimakariri) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What recent economic data has he received and what do they show about the state of the economy? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Business confidence continues to rebound. House prices are rising increasing household net wealth and the latest National Bank regional trend survey showed 11 of 14 regions recorded growth in the last quarter which was expected to be a weak one. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: How is the New Zealand economy performing relative to other economies and how is this affecting international perceptions? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Very well. Fitch Ratings the third of the big three international credit-ratings agencies recently upgraded our foreign currency rating from AA to AA+. It quoted the economy’s strong performance its increasing resilience to external shocks sustained improvements in the public finances and a clear sense of private-sector external debt risk management. 
Hon David Carter 
: With the Minister congratulating himself on the usual springtime blip in business sentiment is he prepared to reinstate the Prime Minister’s early promise to New Zealand—namely to get New Zealand back into the top half of the OECD by 2012? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I can say with absolute confidence that no Government Minister ever thought about getting back into the top half of the OECD by 2012. If the member wants to ask the right question the date was 2011 and that target has not been used for a long time. 
Dail Jones 
: Has the Minister read the economic data from Quotable Value New Zealand showing house price inflation at 14.2 percent nationally and the Statistics New Zealand economic data showing an estimated trade deficit for July of $471 million with exports down by 9.7 percent which is the largest July deficit from the last 17 years; if so does he have any concern for the difficulties of potential first-home buyers and exporters due to the poor state of the New Zealand economy after 4 years of a Labour Government? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: It is actually 3? years but never mind—I am sure to the Opposition it seems like 4 years. The high level of the New Zealand dollar which is a consequence of the fall of the US dollar is certainly a problem for the exporting sector and is obviously leading to substantial expansion of the current account deficit. The domestic economy continues to perform very strongly indeed. There are signs of the US dollar beginning to pick up which hopefully will reflect in the value of the New Zealand dollar before too long. 
Rod Donald 
: Is the Minister concerned about the July trade deficit just mentioned—the worst in 17 years—and the fact that the July year trade deficit of over $3 billion was the worst in New Zealand’s history; and will he commit to extending the tariff freeze in order to help keep the trade deficit in check? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The average New Zealand trade-weighted tariff is less than 1 percent. The amount spent on imported shoes and cheap clothing is not a massive factor in New Zealand’s total external current account deficit. If we are to go to the Doha round and expect people to expect to sign up to free trade in agriculture increasing protection in New Zealand is not a very powerful counterargument.