Grant Robertson departs tomorrow for engagements in his finance portfolios and to support New Zealand’s athletes at the Commonwealth Games in the United Kingdom.

He will attend the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham from the evening of August 2. Before that he will travel to Paris for meetings with political, sport and business leaders, then to the UK for similar meetings.

“Global economies are being challenged by volatility including high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing COVID pandemic. This is a global situation so it is useful to hear how those factors are affecting other jurisdictions,” Grant Robertson said.

The Minister will meet political counterparts in France and the UK as well as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of England Andrew Bailey, along with investors and New Zealand businesses.

“I am also thrilled to be able to attend the Commonwealth Games to support all our athletes who have trained hard over the past four years for this event. This is especially impressive as they have been contending with disruptions caused by the global pandemic.

“We are going into these games off the back of a very successful event in Australia in 2018 when our team won 46 medals.

“We have 233 athletes competing in Birmingham from all around New Zealand. They range in age from 16 to 75 and this year we have our highest proportion of female athletes at 53 percent,” Grant Robertson said.

The Minister will return to New Zealand on August 8.

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