ACT Finance Spokesman Rodney Hide said today that the Labour/Alliance government had failed in its economic management by its own measures.

The December quarterly growth figure was 0.6 percent, producing an annual rate for the December year of 2.4 percent.

"Helen Clark's goal is to get New Zealand into the top half of the world's economic ladder in the next ten years. That requires growth between 4.6 and 7.4 percent. Two point four percent doesn't cut it.

"Even Treasurer Michael Cullen's mediocre aim of four percent growth in five years is unachievable on our current path as the Governor of the Reserve Bank has made plain.

"The government is ruining New Zealanders chance at a decent standard of living through a combination of stupid spending, high taxes and a mountain of red tape," Mr Hide said.

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