“Today’s GDP figures show a Government that was unprepared for Delta – leaving us in a long lockdown and Kiwis are paying the price,” says ACT Leader and Finance spokesperson David Seymour.

“As I said after Jacinda was elected, ‘she would keep smiling as the economy crashed down around her.’ Now it has come to pass.

“For 18-months the Government had the world’s longest nap, doing nothing while Delta was ripping thorough other countries for months. The effects of COVID-19 alert levels were more significant in the September 2021 quarter than in any other quarter since June 2020.

“The long “short sharp” lockdown that followed has left us with the second largest dip in GDP since records began.

“We're doing worse than Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, the UK, the US, and the OECD Average. Jacinda used to insist that the best health response was the best economic response, that is no longer true. It is about balance.

“We have a Finance Minister who is raking in record taxes to pay for all of his spending. We’re overtaxed and over-regulated. Grant Robertson needs to take his foot off the throat of taxpayers.

“Inflation is forecast to reach 5.1 per cent or higher. Kiwis are paying more for almost everything, whether it’s at the pump or the checkout. Prices are rising because the Government has shut down production and compensated with a flood of borrowed and printed cash.

“Debt and inflation are nothing compared with the problems that uncertainty brings and this Government’s inability to plan and signal its intentions is what has driven this drop.

“We are now living through the hangover of Labour’s economic sugar hit with debt, rising prices and taxes.

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