Grant Robertson
Finance Spokesperson

23 September 2015

National’s $6b Super Fund shortfall

National’s short-sighted decision to halt contributions to the Super Fund has left the country $6 billion worse off, Labour’s Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson says.

“Thanks to National’s contributions freeze the Fund is not only $18.2 billion smaller than it would otherwise be, the Guardians of the Super Fund say that even taking into account the cost of borrowing, taxpayers are $6.2 billion worse off.

“Bill English says it is foolish to borrow to invest but the Super Fund had an annual return of 15 per cent last year.

“His refusal to do that is not only short-sighted, it’s foolish financial management. Future generations will be paying the cost of this short term thinking.

“Mr English can’t have it both ways. He has previously basked in the success of the award-winning Super Fund, calling it ‘one of the best-structured sovereign wealth funds in the world’. But today he dismissed the analysis of the Fund as ‘wrong’ and ‘hypothetical’.

"Having kneecapped the Fund, Bill English's only solution to covering the future cost of Superannuation is to cut public services like healthcare and education. That's not something Kiwis will stand for,” Grant Robertson says.

ENDS

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