David CUNLIFFE
Finance Spokesperson
6 July 2011

Today’s Crown accounts for the past eleven months reveal debt growing at an alarming rate and show the Government has no plan to turn the economy around, says Labour’s Finance spokesperson David Cunliffe.

“The accounts --- for the 11 months ended on 31 May --- show that the Government’s operating deficit is forecast to increase from $7 billion at the end of last year to $17 billion by the end of the current year,” David Cunliffe said.

“Gross debt at $73 billion is currently tracking 4.7 per cent higher than originally forecast.

“The Government has no plan to make a decisive difference,” David Cunliffe said. “Next week Labour will announce a bold plan to grow the economy, pay back debt, to keep our state-owned assets that are so important to our future, and to give a tax switch that puts more money in the pockets of middle- and low-income earners.

“National is bereft of ideas, other than selling off the assets we own and undermining our best opportunities, through KiwiSaver and the Super Fund, to develop a desperately-needed savings habit among New Zealanders.

“National has had no cohesive and comprehensive plan for two-and-a-half years. It is not even remotely close to developing one now.”

“New Zealand needs a bold and courageous plan to get our economy moving and to create jobs, so Kiwis can believe strongly again in their own future,” David Cunliffe said. “Next week Labour will show how it can be done.”

ENDS

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