Cheap Chinese peaches on Govt's menu once again
Goods are dumped if they are exported for less than their normal value in their home country, typically done to gain market share.
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NZ Herald
11 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Proposed Working for Families changes may leave some worse off, FinCap warns
There is almost $300 million owed in Working for Families debt. A discussion document, on which submissions were sought, said the Government's current thinking was that a quarterly assessment of Working for Families eligibility could strike the right balance between responsiveness, certainty and recipient effort. This would adjust what people were paid much more frequently. But Fleur Howard, chief executive of FinCap, said in a submission in response that she was worried that some families could be left without enough money. A shorter quarterly assessment period would be an improvement, Howard said, but it needed to be refined. 'Aspects of the proposed design appear to suit some whānau situations better than others. We are concerned that in its current state, this design would have a disproportionally negative impact on those who are already experiencing financial instability due to more fluctuations in payment amount.' Howard said FinCap's internal data showed most financial mentor clients had a weekly budget deficit even after they had received help. 'More often than not, this deficit is due to whānau trying to pay for essentials, and commonly going into debt to do so. 'This, among other markers, points to the fact that government support is not currently adequate to cover living expenses. We have concerns that some of the proposed changes would exacerbate income inadequacy in certain scenarios, particularly for whānau who need that money week to week.' Howard said an example used in the discussion document, outlining a situation where a woman on the sole parent benefit went into additional work for a short period of time, highlighted a potentially unacceptable outcome. In that case, the woman's Working for Families credits would be reduced by $130 a week for the quarter after her temporary work, even though she was no longer in work, because the calculation was based on the higher income from the previous quarter. 'We can see that the 'lagged income' mechanism makes sense from the perspective of achieving accuracy, however the potential for a decreased payment below what a whānau is entitled to poses real risk for wellbeing and social participation. 'There is also a real concern over the dynamic whereby a quarterly period of higher income followed by a quarterly period of low income would see increased hardship within the low-income period, due to those payments reflecting the past higher income. 'While this could be squared up during the end of year process, our data tells us that most whānau living week to week need that money as part of their weekly payments.' Howard said mentors were also concerned something similar could happen if someone lost a job and went on the benefit, because their reduced income would not show up in the Working for Families calculation for another quarter. 'Whānau need every cent they are entitled to in a timely manner when events such as job loss occur.' A solution could be for the quarterly assessment period to look forward, rather than backwards, she said. – RNZ
Scoop
16 hours ago
- Scoop
Infrastructure Projects To Drive Jobs And Growth
Minister for Economic Growth Hon Chris Bishop Minister for Infrastructure Billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects getting underway in the next few months will drive economic activity and create thousands of jobs across the country, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say. The Ministers today released an infrastructure update showing $6 billion of government-funded construction is due to start between now and Christmas. 'The projects getting underway include new roads, hospitals, schools, high-tech laboratories and other government buildings,' Nicola Willis says. 'That means spades in the ground, jobs throughout the country and a stronger economy. 'Improving the quality of New Zealand's infrastructure is critical to growing the economy and helping Kiwis with the cost of living. 'Good roads, schools and hospitals help business to move goods and services to market quickly and efficiently, children to learn and doctors and nurses to get patients back on their feet.' Chris Bishop says the projects getting underway will create thousands of employment opportunities for New Zealanders. 'Numbers vary according to the nature of projects, but data sourced from the Infrastructure Commission suggests each billion dollars of infrastructure investment per year equates to about 4500 jobs. 'In total, workers are expected to start construction on $3.9 billion worth of roading projects in the next few months. They include the Ōtaki to north of Levin expressway, the Melling interchange, the Waihoehoe Road upgrade, and the new Ōmanawa bridge on SH29. All will help to lift productivity by getting people and freight to their destinations quickly and safely. 'Health projects kicking off include upgrades to Auckland City Hospital, Middlemore Hospital, and the construction of a new acute mental health unit at Hutt Valley Hospital. Construction work on the new inpatients building at the new Dunedin Hospital has also just begun. 'Between now and the end of this year, school property projects valued at nearly $800 million will get underway across the country. 'Other Government infrastructure projects due to start before the end of this year include a massive new state-of-the-art biosecurity facility in Auckland for the Ministry of Primary Industries and the Papakura District Court interim courthouse. 'Importantly, this is just the start. The National Infrastructure Pipeline, managed by the Infrastructure Commission, now shows planned future projects totalling $207 billion across central government, local government and the private sector.' Alongside the infrastructure update, Nicola Willis today released an update on the Government's Infrastructure for Growth work programme. The update is the first refresh of the Going for Growth agenda launched in February to drive economic growth by backing business, improving infrastructure and skills, and removing barriers to innovation. The update shows that since February the Government has delivered on 14 actions to build a stronger infrastructure pipeline and drive better value for money. They include: streamlining land acquisition processes for major infrastructure projects agreeing to fund more than $550 million of water, energy, Māori development and other projects through the Regional Infrastructure Fund; and consulting on a draft National Infrastructure Plan due to become final by the end of the year that will give investors and businesses confidence and drive better value for money from public investment. Note The projects beginning construction include: Hutt Valley Te Whare Ahuru Acute Mental Health Unit, Wellington Kidz First and McIndoe Building Recladding, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland Linear Accelerators Replacement, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland Dunedin Hospital Sterile Services Unit, Dunedin Plant Health & Environment Capability Laboratory, Auckland Papakura District Court Interim Courthouse, Auckland Waihoehoe Road Upgrade, Auckland SH22 (Drury) Corridor Upgrade – interim works, Auckland SH29 Tauriko – Omanawa Bridge – Bay of Plenty SH1 Ōtaki to north of Levin, Horowhenua SH2 Melling Interchange, Wellington SH76 Brougham Street, Canterbury Rolleston Access Improvements – Package 1, Canterbury Parliamentary Library – south building and underground carpark seismic strengthening & rebuild, Wellington School property projects across the country including roll growth classrooms, upgrades and redevelopments & learning support satellite classrooms, administration blocks and gymnasiums. This list excludes a small number of significant projects which will begin construction before the end of 2025, but cannot yet be named for a range of commercial reasons. The value of these projects is included in the $6 billion total. Announcements will be made about them in the coming weeks and months.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Inflation is back and that's a problem for the Prime Minister
Rising prices for vegetables and fruit are adding to the pain we're already suffering for butter, cheese and beef prices. The Stats NZ release came with an avalanche of horrible numbers that confirmed what we're already feeling at the supermarket checkout. Milk prices were up 14.3% annually, butter up 46.5% over the same timeframe and cheese up 30%. Beef mince was up 21% and fruit and vegetables, which had been pretty good, rose 5% just in June. Obviously, there are seasonal factors, but that's a big spike and recent flooding in key growing regions means things will probably get worse before they get better. While overall inflation is considerably lower, grocery bills represent an outsize proportion of weekly spending for the poorest Kiwis. Food prices are also pushing up the overall inflation rate and forcing the Reserve Bank to slow the pace at which it cuts interest rates. That, in turn, slows the pace of economic recovery. Tomorrow we'll get the full inflation figures for the second quarter. Economists are picking annual inflation to land at 2.8% or 2.9% (up from 2.5%). From there, they expect it to keep rising to more than 3% in the third quarter, above the Reserve Bank's mandated target range. That all looks bad, but it isn't necessarily disastrous. Inflation should start falling again towards the end of the year, economists say. In the politically sedate world of economics, all the talk is about tradeable inflation – the price of volatile, internationally priced goods. Non-tradeable inflation, the stuff that is generated by wages and service costs in the core of the domestic economy, continues to fall. It's hardly an upside. Ongoing recessionary conditions are expected to ensure that non-tradeable inflation keeps falling. So there is a consensus among economists that the current inflationary conditions won't derail the economic recovery – they'll just delay it. Politically, it still hurts. Remember 'survive to 25″! We spent last year hanging on for the long-promised economic recovery. Now we've got economists forecasting things will come right in 2026. Looking at all the moving parts, I still remain optimistic that it will. An agricultural export boom and low interest rates must eventually generate some growth in the New Zealand economy – it's just not that complicated. But the waiting will be wearing thin for voters. Next year it's the election already, which is cutting things fine for a Government that has staked its reputation on being all about economic growth. As I said at the start, I don't think this is the Government's fault. But details like that don't matter much where the economy is concerned. Sometimes governments do cause or exacerbate inflation with overly stimulatory fiscal policy. That isn't the case this time. The Government can legitimately be attacked from the left for making the downturn worse by running a tight fiscal policy. The counter-argument (which lands well with a lot of Kiwis) is that Crown debt is out of control and retrenching was the right thing to do in the long run. Regardless of where you sit on that debate, it doesn't leave any reason to blame the Government for this latest inflationary spike. Still, the idea that governments are responsible for the cost of living is almost unshakeable in the minds of a large chunk of the voting public. The problem for Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis is exacerbated by the fact they publicly took credit for bringing inflation down. 'This Government has delivered on its promise to Kiwis – our careful and deliberate plan to get on top of inflation is working,' Willis said in an August 2024 press release celebrating the latest RBNZ rate cut. Also, the Nats weren't shy of heaping the blame on Labour when inflation soared in 2022, even though that was initially driven by international price spikes. Labour complained at the time but is now happy to run the same attacks. Labour leader Chris Hipkins continues to draw attention on social media to the price of butter, implying Government policy is to blame and ignoring the fact that dairy prices are currently the only thing saving the nation's economic bacon. Despite my best efforts to explain the ins and outs of global commodity pricing, my inbox confirms the public remains highly engaged about the price of butter. Did I say engaged? Sorry, I meant enraged. I still don't get the obsession with butter. How much of the stuff do you actually have to use... put some Country Soft on your toast, it's fine. But I don't want to downplay the real economic pain that high food prices cause. I've personally found the rise in cheese and beef prices worse. With two teenage boys to feed, we get through a lot of cheese and bulk our pasta sauces and nacho toppings with plenty of ground beef. The notion that burgers or spag-bol are no longer affordable for many Kiwis is worrying. The commodity cycle will turn. International dairy and beef prices will eventually fall. But that will mask the real problem. It's not that food prices are too high, it's that wages are too low. In the perfect world, prices for our export commodities would stay high, but New Zealand's domestic economy would be creating more well-paid jobs and generating higher wages. A quick check on supermarket websites in Australia or Britain reveals that groceries (once you do currency conversions) aren't actually much cheaper there. They just earn more than us. The Prime Minister understands this and I believe him when he says his real policy goal is to boost productivity and wages. But that's going to take time. Meanwhile, immediate conditions continue to pull the rug out from under him. In the next few months, he faces a tough sales job to convince the public that the economy remains on the right track. Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003.
