27 June 2002

I am not surprised business confidence is declining and it is indicative of the fact that business is feeling the pinch of a rising exchange rate and rising interest rates, says National's finance spokesperson David Carter.

"What's important is that it doesn't need to be that way. There is far more to the competitiveness than interest rates and exchange rates.

"The underlying cause of the decline in confidence is that the government has done nothing to help the competitiveness of the New Zealand economy. They simply can't deal with things like lower compliance costs and lower taxes.

"Those are the things that really matter when it comes to increasing our long-term growth prospects.

"Michael Cullen's inability to deal with these issues is why he is diverting attention away from these issues and in the process is politicising monetary policy. This is the reason behind the snap election," says David Carter.

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