National presides over zero-growth economy

Revised GDP figures out today show what everyone knows but the Government refuses to acknowledge – that the economy has hardly grown since National has been in office, Labour’s finance spokesperson David Parker says.

“The New Zealand economy has grown by just 0.6% - or an average of two tenths of a per cent each year – since National took office.

“And that’s why families are noticing the effects in their own household budgets,” David Parker said.

“National keeps promising things will get better but it also keeps failing to deliver, meaning ordinary New Zealanders are not financially better off.

“In 2009, after the global financial crisis hit, John Key promised the economy would be growing out of recession ‘reasonably aggressively’ by the end of 2010.

“National has kept making the same promise every year - telling us that the recovery was just around the corner.

“In last year’s budget they said the rugby world cup and the Christchurch rebuild would grow the economy faster than expected.

“Despite the one-off effect of those two factors, New Zealand families know that jobs and incomes are not growing fast enough.

“That’s why yesterday’s retail sales figures showed the largest quarterly decline since 1995, it’s why job losses are increasing, and it’s why 1000 people a week are leaving for Australia.

“National needs to be doing a lot more than it is to grow incomes and jobs,” said David Parker.