Economic Development Minister can’t count

new-zealand-labour-party

Wed Feb 29 2012 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Economic Development Minister can’t count

Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 4:28 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

David Cunliffe
Economic Development Spokesperson

29 February 2012

Economic Development Minister can’t count

National’s Steven Joyce was out by a factor of three in answering the most basic question on the current account deficit today, Labour’s Economic Development spokesperson David Cunliffe says.

“Questioned in the House today, the Economic Develop Minister said the current account deficit is predicted to worsen by just under $5 billion over the next four years.

“In fact the projection contained in the PREFU was $17.6 billion,” David Cunliffe said.

“Mr Joyce then attempted to justify the rapidly deteriorating current account deficit by saying that it was due to the Canterbury earthquake.

“However the PREFU shows only 26% of the current account deficit in the out-years is due to the rebuild,” David Cunliffe said.

“As Minister for Economic Development, Mr Joyce has shown himself unable to correctly recall even the most basic headline indicators of the country's economic performance.

“So far, no apology has been given to the House by the Minister for the error.

“If Mr Joyce cannot get the most basic numbers right, can taxpayers really trust him to negotiate backroom deals with casinos or telco giants?” David Cunliffe said.

ENDS

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