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: 30 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12022. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany)to theMinister of Finance: What reports has he received on business confidence and intentions among companies to invest and hire more staff?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):Last week theNew Zealand Herald published its annual survey of New Zealand chief executives. The overwhelming majority of chief executives said they see New Zealand going forward in the next few years. In particular they are more confident about employing more staff in the next 12 months and more confident about investing in capital and information technology. In all 88 percent of the group were optimistic about their businesses 79 percent expect to make more revenue and 72 percent expect to be more profitable. This is an encouraging result and underlines the importance of the Government focusing its economic policy on encouraging businesses to invest and employ because that is how the economy grows.Jami-Lee Ross: How did the “Mood of the Boardroom” survey rate the Government’s economic programme particularly its priorities of building growth and returning to surplus?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The survey respondents were significantly positive about the Government’s economic policy. They said it had been important to protect New Zealand’s households by maintaining fiscal discipline and helping keep interest rates low. Around three-quarters said that the Government was correctly focused on achieving a surplus and that this would be achieved in 2014-15. Overall the chief executive officers felt supported by policy that assisted them to make the decisions to invest and employ but these decisions are made by the businesses not by the Government.Jami-Lee Ross: What did company chief executives say about the role of capital markets in helping to build a more competitive economy?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It has been a complaint of businesses in New Zealand for some time that it has been difficult to access capital. It was encouraging to see in this survey that the level of concern about the ability of businesses to raise capital either through debt or equity was surprisingly low. As theNew Zealand Herald noted this suggests that several years of low interest rates and a resurgent sharemarket may be providing the ignition the economy needs for more jobs and higher incomes. There was strong support for the Government’s share offer programme because of a view that the Government partially selling some of its assets into the stock market was encouraging other businesses to come to the stock market and raise tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars that allowed them to invest in their businesses and employ more people.Jami-Lee Ross: What did the “Mood of the Boardroom” survey conclude about alternative approaches to economic benefits?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The survey provided some reasonably clear conclusions. In fact it was particularly decisive on this matter even by the standards of any poll or survey. Asked if a certain alternative had been sufficiently credible to challenge the Government not one of the 120 chief executives thought so. One said that Mr DavidShearer was a major political asset for the Government and 95 percent said he was not a credible leader.Hon David Parker: Can he confirm that under his Budget the “upside scenario is based on higher prices for existing and new houses along with an associated increase in complementary household spending.” and that “In this scenario households resume housing equity withdrawal to finance consumption”; and why does he think business confidence built on imbalances in the economy is good news?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No I cannot confirm exactly what the member has said. However I will say this: they used to be very grumpy because they said there was no growth. Now that there is growth in investment growth in jobs and higher levels of confidence it is the wrong sort of growth.