IMF report strongly positive

Finance Minister Michael Cullen today welcomed the latest International Monetary Fund report on New Zealand, describing it as “strongly supportive of the government’s policy direction.”

The IMF commends the government’s fiscal prudence and discipline while also supporting the assistance package for low to middle income families which will form the centrepiece of this year’s budget.

It says the government’s early intervention to address, through the establishment of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, the spending pressures arising from the aging population confirms New Zealand’s reputation for innovative and far-sighted policymaking.

And it endorses the objectives of the Growth and Innovation Framework together with the government’s efforts to build work skills and to encourage people to move from welfare to work.

It attributes the relative strength of the New Zealand economy through the recent world slowdown to the sustained implementation of prudent monetary and fiscal policies and to the structural reforms of the last 20 years and says that, although growth is expected to slow this year, New Zealand remains generally well-placed to absorb adverse shocks without undue economic distress.

“This obviously represents a substantial endorsement of the government and should be a source of pride to all New Zealanders,” Dr Cullen said.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>