Young Jonathan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Young Jonathan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 20 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5500. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
1. 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What recent reports has he received on the economy? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Statistics New Zealand this morning released the GDP data for the quarter ended June 2012. It showed that the New Zealand economy grew 0.6 percent in the 3 months to 30 June. This took growth to 1.6 percent for the first 6 months of the year. It brought annual growth to 2.6 percent compared with June 2011. This indicates that the economy is picking up some momentum because it is the highest rate of annual growth since 2007. So we are making progress and on track to moderate growth of 2 to 3 percent per year. 
Jonathan Young 
: What were the main components of GDP growth in June? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: We do have to be careful not to read too much into components of growth for just 3 months because from one quarter to another they can change significantly. Agriculture was a significant contributor up 4.7 percent reflecting the end of a good growing season. Construction was up indicating that the Canterbury rebuild maybe is now picking up momentum. Manufacturing was up 0.8 percent. Investment in fixed assets was up 3.1 percent due to increases in plant machinery equipment and construction of infrastructure such as roads and residential buildings. 
Jonathan Young 
: How do the latest New Zealand growth figures compare with growth in other developed countries? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The New Zealand economy continues to perform along with the better-performing developed countries despite uncertainties in Europe and the US. In the first half of 2012 New Zealand grew by 1.6 percent which was higher than the US Japan Canada the UK and the euro area. Our quarterly growth is now in line with that of Australia. The fact that we are in a somewhat better position than a number of developed economies is one reason why our exchange rate remains relatively high. 
Hon David Parker 
: Has the Minister read the report from Bernard Doyle of JBWere that by doing nothing about our overvalued exchange rate we are “importing other countries’ problems.”? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I have and I disagree that the Government is doing nothing. We are focused strongly on the competitiveness of our businesses. It is difficult if not impossible to manage our exchange rate to a significantly lower level so we are focusing on helping our exporters to be profitable regardless of what the exchange rate is. 
Jonathan Young 
: Given the Government’s focus on creating a more productive and competitive economy how will its economic programme build on the moderate growth confirmed by the latest GDP figures? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: We will continue to focus on those factors that will protect us from the worst aspects of something going wrong in the global economy—so we will continue to focus on the financial stability of our banks and on getting the Government’s finances back in order. We will also press on with the wide-ranging economic programme which is focused on the long-term competitiveness of New Zealand because that is what will help households get their debt down and help export businesses generate the jobs and incomes that we would all like to see.