Nicola Willis: Finance Minister on treasury report calculating the total cost of the pandemic at $66 billion

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Aug 7, 2025 · 5m · transcript

The Government says it won't make the same mistakes as the last if hit with an event similar to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Treasury report has calculated the total cost of the pandemic at $66 billion.

It puts New Zealand among the highest spenders as a proportion of GDP on the Covid response in advanced economies.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Ryan Bridge nearly half of the spending was on unnecessary initiatives.

She says it didn't make a difference to the economy, and racked up huge amounts of debt.

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