Many businesses were backed by government guarantees, policy changes and subsidies, including for aviation, freight, selected tourism businesses and banks. Ardern and Robertson have prioritised debt reduction and are now at the fiscally conservative end of the advanced economy spectrum. New Zealand’s public net debt is barely 32% of GDP, less than a third of the average of developed economies with similar credit ratings. But Bernard makes the point that Grant and Jacinda are too timid to make the real changes necessary. Housing, inequality, poverty and mental health are not getting better because the neoliberal Wellington Bureaucratic elites want it that way!

Source: Otago Daily Times April 10, 2021 18:16 UTC