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Nicola Willis: Finance Minister reacts to OCR being cut 50 points, talks growth · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yes, the ocr is coming down fifty basis points yesterday,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: bringing it to four point two five percent, but growth
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: well still ain't great. Nichola Willis is the Finance minister. Minister,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: good morning, Good morning, Ryan. Nice to have you on
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the show. So we know it's all good and rosy
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and positive in terms of the OCI coming down a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: bit further. But how worried are you about GDP? We
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: were down in June, we were down in September. We've
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: now downgraded our forecast going forward. This is a failure.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I think about GDP all of the time because
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  Speaker 2: how fast the economy grows determines what jobs, opportunities, incomes
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: are available for people. So of course we want to
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: see the economy growing faster. That's why we're so focused
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: on removing retape, making sure that people can get resource
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: contents quicker, getting infrastructure out the door. Next year, what
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the numbers tell us is that the economy will be
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: growing much much faster than this year. That is good news,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: but of course we always want to see the forecasts
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: getting higher, and of course it concerns me if they're
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: not as high as they can be.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: What about the half yearly economic fiscal update next month.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: We're going to have to push that surface out from
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: twenty seven to twenty eight.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Well, look, I will announce those forecasts on the seventeenth
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: of December, and I won't go into the numbers ahead
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: of that. What you saw the Chief Economist of the
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Treasury come out with last week was that the Treasury
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: itself has been looking at the underlying size the economy
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: and revising its view about what's been happening over the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: past few years. It's complicated story, but basically after COVID
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: they got excited about where productivity was going. They're now
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: revising that damping it down. Well, actually isn't quite as
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: good as we think, and that means that their gross
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: assumptions are more muted, and of course that has flow
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: on economies that you flow on implications of everything in
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the economy, including how much revenue the government is receiving.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Make those updates in a couple of weeks.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, so that's not sounding great. Hipkins says, you need
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: to stop throttling the economy. I mean inflations under control.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: You need to stop with the austerity. You know you've
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: got people heading to the winds. Doll qu You've got
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: a housing projects that have been stalled because of funding cuts.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: You've got activity that's not happening because of decisions you're making,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: which is affecting that GDP number.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: What do you say, Well, actually, unemployment is coming in
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  Speaker 2: lower than had been forecast and predicted.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's still up.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I rejected austerity. I rejected austerity a year ago when
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: we came into office. That's why, despite a declining economy
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: left to us by Chris Hipkins and his friends, we
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: have increased funding dramatically for health, for education, for the police.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: What we've been doing is shifting resources from more wasteful
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: areas of government expenditures so we can focus them on
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the areas that Kiwis really care about. I don't resile
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: from that, because I want to see funding going into
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: things like hiring more police on the front line, ensuring
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: that we've got structured literacy in our schools, making sure
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: that we are hiring more doctors and buying more cancer drugs.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: That's the right thing to we do. In Labour's waste
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: for spending was not good for the economy, and it
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: wasn't good for Kiwis.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: What about this report and I'm sure you've seen it,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: particularly in Wellington, about potential for a seventy percent increase
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: in public transport cost. The hell are people meant to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: wear that?
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Look, I've only just seen that report. Obviously, public transport
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: fears are ultimately a matter for counsels. They make those
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: decisions and so that is something which I'll have to understand.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: What are adjustments with the Wellington councils and making on
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: that matter. The government is continuing to fund public transport.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: In fact, more money is going into public transport that
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: it has in the past. Obviously there are pressures. We're
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: also funding roads. There's a lot for us to do
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: in transport, so that those are discretionary just and look,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I'm happy to be looking at that. We want to
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: see New Zealanders with more cash in their back pockets
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: for the combination of tax relief, family boost childcare payments,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: of interest rates coming down, of inflation coming down. Many
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: many New Zealand families have come through a very tough time.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Can now see light at the end of the tunnel.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Have you seen, as Finance Minister, any modeling on potential
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: impacts of tariffs from a Trump administration or have you
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: had any conversations early conversations have we our embassy with
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: incoming US officials.
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  Speaker 2: Look, it is too early to model anything like that
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: because a lot of what you're reading at the moment
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: is speculation about what an incoming Trump administration will do. Obviously,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: we have the comments that he's made on the campaign trail,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: but how that translates into policy in what order, at
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: what time, for what country are big questions. New Zealand's
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: job is to pursue our interests. We've had a very
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: strong relationship with the United States so many decades. It's
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: a significant trading relationship from which both countries derive values,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: and the role of our diplomats and our in disease
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: is to put our best foot forward to make sure
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: we maintain a really good trading position for our exported.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Everyone's claiming that they are in charge of the government
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: at the moment. Have you're interesting that on the news?
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: We all know. I think it's wonderful, because says many fathers,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: doesn't it?
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: We all know it's here, isn't it. We all know
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: that you're the real boss. You're the real boss of
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the showdown in it.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: In this in this world, nothing great happens without another
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: involved as well. And while Christopher LASLM should take the
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: ultimate credit, he has an extraordinary team of people with
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: them across our ministry, across three parties and government. And
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you we all get up each day
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  Speaker 2: and we give it our absolute best.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: That is Nichola Willis Mother of the Nation.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: to news Talks there be from five am weekdays, or
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.