'Low public debt' will help NZ steer through global turmoil - Finance Minister

Wednesday, 7 February 2018

Low public debt and a strong labour market will buffer the economy from current turmoil, Finance Minister Grant Robertson claims.

Treasury officials were recalled from their day off on Waitangi Day to brief Robertson on the global turmoil, but indicated they believed the economy was resilient.

Robertson told RNZ on Wednesday that while there may be some turmoil on the sharemarket this week, that he was confident the wider economy would cope.

​'When you look at the fundamentals of global economic growth, and indeed of the New Zealand economy, I'm reasonably reassured by that,' Robertson said.

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'Essentially the low level of public debt is a really important part of it,' Robertson said.

'New Zealand is a country that always has to be aware of global shocks. It's why we keep our public debt lower than other countries.

'We've got good forecasts of economic growth coming down the line, averaging about 2.9 per cent [a year] over the forecast period.

'We'll have some employment and unemployment data out today that, hopefully, well continue to show a reasonably strong labour market, so I'm optimistic that this is something New Zealand will handle.'

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