Spending cuts, tax rises and asset sales are among the most politically challenging policy decisions for any government. Little addressed these challenges in a speech to the ANZ-Kanga News Debt Capital Markets Summit today, which focused on debt. “Fixing these intertwined fiscal and economic challenges will require successive governments using the levers available to them,” Little said. “The current system creates economic costs and limits options to raise revenue efficiently,” he said. This is seen as preferable to borrowing money to acquire more assets before seeing whether the current lot are performing well.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 19, 2026 08:40 UTC