The Reserve Bank Governor has all but said there is zero reason to raise the OCR right now, but has gone and done it anyway. Perhaps in hindsight he believes that during the last inflation spiral we should have used the OCR lift earlier and gone hard. That soft approach inevitably killed our exports and now while many exporters are hanging on by their fingernails we start the process all over again. read more »

It seems Bryan Gould has found the missing link in productivity that Labour, and now National struggled to find.

The Productive Economy council welcomes Labour’s announced intention to create a monetary policy environment that better supports exporters.

With every political party angling for the populist vote, it’s highly encouraging to see Phil Goff today staking out a position that will provoke serious debate on how we grow the economy. Those businesses that design, make, employ and export real things will love this announcement, says Pellett, the spokesperson for the Productive Economy Council. read more »

Dr Bollard’s increase of the Official Cash Rate to 2.75 per cent is a blow to hard working New Zealanders - both home owners and exporters - who thought the worst was over. This latest move will put more money into the hands of foreign-owned banks and at this point in the economic recovery cycle is plain stupid, says Productive Economy Council spokesman Selwyn Pellett.

“New Zealanders need to demand a fairer system for controlling inflation than the OCR. The Chief Economist of the BNZ said today that all the interest payments received were passed on to savers. This is a misrepresentation of the facts, as the banks’ future profits will demonstrate. The banks lift prices (fees and interest rates) quickly, bring them down slowly and pocket the difference as incremental profit. We’re expected to shrug our shoulders accept it as if there is no alternative,” says Pellett. read more »

Today we have for the first time seen the sort of Policy leadership that might actually deliver the economic turnaround that could see us catch up with Australia, says the Productive Economy Council.

The policies announced today by Labour could see a New Zealand that generates its own savings pool to invest in its own companies, to create superior profits from the innovation in science and technology, and to earn superior margins for our exports and pay our employees superior salaries, says PEC spokesman Selwyn Pellett. read more »

Stephen Joyce needs to take a “whole of the economy view” of KiwiRail’s intended purchase of locomotives and rolling stock, says Selwyn Pellett the spokesperson for the Productive Economy Council.
“We are an ambitious nation and it would be nice if our political and economic decision making could catch up with that ambition. New Zealanders want to see our Kiwi SOE dollars spent here, building our own rail locomotives and rolling stock, creating jobs, new skills, tax revenue and export opportunities. Not protected industries but invested industries. This type of economic investment is very sticky and that is its appeal, says Pellett.

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The Productive Economy Council and the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association are pleased to help stimulate new thinking by sponsoring the inaugural Alternative Budget Competition which is open to all currently enrolled university students.

“Generations X and Y have a huge stake in the future of our country since it is on them that the tax burden of supporting any future benefits - which they may or may not receive - will fall. And yet these generations are poorly represented among those who form our economic policies,” says Selwyn Pellett, spokesman for the Productive read more »

The proposed buyout of the Crafar dairy empire by Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings, a Cayman Islands registered, Hong-Kong based company - previously known by the more illuminating name of the China Jin Hui Mining Corporation - should start alarm bells ringing with the New Zealand public, says the Productive Economy Council.

The public has a historical resistance to asset sales, but many might not understand that our agricultural sector is just such an asset, of such importance to the economy that selling large parts of it off to foreign interests is not in the national interest.

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The Productive Economy Councils welcomes Labour’s stance on tax and monetary policy reform

The Productive Economy Council welcomes comments in a speech from Labour leader Phil Goff today in which he outlined Labour’s economic priorities in 2010.

PEC spokesman Selwyn Pellett says Phil Goff is spot on in highlighting the need to up skill our population to create more productive and wealthier society.

“Phil Goff obviously understands the danger we face. Namely, that as New Zealand comes out of the recession it is not enough to simply rely on a default recovery back to the status quo. It will be all too easy to mistake a general improvement in the economic outlook for a positive long-term prognosis for our economy’s health. In reality our economy is in no better position to guarantee a prosperous future than it was before the recession,” says Pellett. read more »