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A $269 Million Deficit is a Lot of Money Prime Minister

A $269 Million Deficit is a Lot of Money Prime Minister - Peters


The Rt Hon Winston Peters is calling out the Prime Minister for his comments on Newstalk ZB this morning, where he arrogantly dismissed the government’s latest $269 million deficit for the eight months to February as “plus or minus a few hundred million.”

“National’s mounting failure to make a Budget surplus since 2008 is causing damage to the economy

“The Prime Minister is absolutely wrong to dismiss another budget deficit as just “plus or minus a few hundred million.” Just like he was wrong to say low inflation is “great for business, great for consumers” when there’s zero inflation.

“The main cause of the deficit is falling GST receipts, which suggests decreased household and business spending. What’s more, the Reserve Bank says there is zero inflation, so regions are facing deflation once you take the Auckland property bubble out of the picture.

“Last May, Mr Key beat his chest over a promised $372 million surplus, increasing surpluses and a growing economy. Unlike the Meat Loaf song, ‘zero out of three is bad.’

“This deficit proves you cannot borrow your way to a better economy with housing debt growing by $28 billion in the four years to February. That’s about $799,000 every hour.

“This is no rock star economy unless those rocks are fool’s gold, just like any contrived Budget surplus will prove to be,” Mr Peters said.

ENDS


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