Don Brash
National List Candidate

17 June 2002

"Jim Anderton needs to school up on his knowledge of basic economics and New Zealand's economic history," says National List Candidate Don Brash.

Dr Brash was responding to allegations made by Jim Anderton about the former Reserve Bank Governor's economic stewardship.

"It appears as if Mr Anderton is as ignorant on basic economic concepts as he has been about the true definition of party hopping.

"There is only one thing that matters when it comes to keeping interest rates down and that is controlling inflation."

Dr Brash says during the late 1980s and early 1990s the Reserve Bank was highly successful in achieving price stability and more recently maintaining it.

"As our inflation rate has fallen, so too have the interest rates New Zealanders are paying on their mortgages.

"During the mid 1980s, New Zealand families were paying 20 per cent interest rates on their mortgages, today average home loans are less than half this level.

"This has saved New Zealanders huge amounts in mortgage repayments and can be put down to the hard work carried out by the Reserve Bank during the 1980s and 1990s to bring inflation under control.

"The facts, rather than Mr Anderton's illogical claims, speak for themselves," Dr Brash concluded.

Ends

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