Scorecard For Budget Required - Business NZ

A scorecard is needed for New Zealanders to make sense of the Budget, says Business NZ Chief Executive Simon Carlaw.

"Budgetary issues and priorities change from year to year, with no consistency of approach," Mr Carlaw said. "This underscores the lack of a national vision for our future economic well-being."

"A Budget can only be deemed a success or failure if measured against some longer-term national goals.

"Many goals are possible - Business NZ says the goal of returning our GDP to the OECD's top ten is the only one that matters. Increasing our national income is the only one that will help pay for expenditure in the Budget.

"We will be measuring this week's Budget statements against this goal. Where Budget initiatives help NZ to be more competitive, we will give them a positive score. Where they make no impact on our international competitiveness, we will give them no score. Where they detract from our competitiveness, we will give them a minus score.

"The Budget's ability to improve all New Zealanders' standard of living should therefore be scored in a credible, consistent way this year and in the future," Mr Carlaw said.

Note: Business NZ's scorecard will be released following the Budget announcement.

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