Tim Dower: If we keep borrowing, we will turn into a debt basket case

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Oct 12, 2021 · 1m

The Government's books are supposedly in better shape than expected.

The Finance Minister revealed a deficit, a business would call that a trading loss, of only $4.6 billion.

Mmmm...we lost $4.6 billion.

That said, the Budget picked a number more like $15 billion, so it could have been a lot worse.

But one thing caught my ear in the announcement.

Kainga Ora properties (what we used to call Housing New Zealand) are on the books as assets.

But is it really truthful to call a property portfolio that LOSES money an asset?

Minus $20-30m a year sounds more like a liability to me.

And that's AFTER…