'Muddling through' not good enough, says English

An economy re-balance around exports and investment will help New Zealand climb the world income ladder, Finance Minister Bill English told a business breakfast this morning.

Addressing the Cullen Law Breakfast Club in Wellington, English said New Zealand needed to ensure it didn't revert to the "mediocre economic performance" that had seen it "muddle through" much of its recent past.

"By muddling through, I mean an economy that grows a bit here and there, which stops and starts. It's the kind of economy we have had before.

"In that time, our incomes fell relative to other countries and we drifted. That's the risk we have now as we prepare to come out of recession."

To climb back up the world income ladder, businesses needed the confidence to invest and create jobs.

"The Government's role is to make that as easy for them as possible -- particularly with the New Zealand dollar at current high levels."

English said there had been a "decade of lost opportunity" in terms of getting the economy firing.

The Government had set out a comprehensive programme that would start to re-balance the economy around exports and investment, he said.

In the meantime, New Zealand needed to rein in loose government spending and encourage strong economic debate about whether, as a country, "we want to do better than just muddle through".

- NZPA