Summer polls: High-spending Kiwis point finger at others

Alan Bollard

"Blame the other guy" is the attitude people seem to have adopted over the big spending that has riled Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard.

In a Herald-DigiPoll survey on debt levels, an overwhelming 78 per cent of people agreed that Dr Bollard was right to worry about continued high spending and debt putting the economy at risk.

But almost as many people - 72.5 per cent - thought their own financial situation was fine and just 30 per cent said they expected to spend less money over this holiday season.

About half of those surveyed said they would spend the same and 17 per cent expected to spend more.

Although 60 per cent of those in the poll owed money - and half of that group owed more than $100,000 - just 27 per cent said they were concerned about their financial situation.

Herald investment columnist Mary Holm was surprised so few were worried about their own positions.

"It is interesting that so many agreed with Dr Bollard, but it doesn't sound as if people think they should be pulling in their own horns.

"Perhaps people think everybody else should be spending less on their credit cards, but not themselves.

"Dr Bollard will be pleased that at least people are getting the message, but the point is that he wants people to take action, and not just nod and say, 'He's right'."

Mary Holm said most people did not particularly care about the national economy until it started to hit them personally.

Aucklanders took on slightly higher debt levels than the national average - but the worth of their assets was higher.

Nationally, one third of people had assets of more than $400,000, but 40 per cent of Aucklanders had more than that.

And although it is the luxuries - such as eating out and travel - that tend to go first in any spending cut, there was no sign that anyone was letting the warnings cramp their holiday style.

Statistics New Zealand's migration figures showed a 9 per cent increase in people flying overseas on short-term trips in the year to November.

Those numbers do not look likely to shrink this year; House of Travel retail director Brent Thomas said its forward bookings for travel this year were 20 per cent higher than at the same time last year.

He said the high dollar gave people better value for money than in at least four years and record low unemployment meant people felt secure in spending.

"Those are two main reasons for it and, with all due respect to Dr Bollard, he's not going to change that overnight.

"A lot more people are taking short breaks, such as long weekends to Australia for the U2 concert, or the Pacific Islands, but still taking their longer annual holiday to Asia, Europe or the UK. We didn't see that at all a few years ago."

Hospitality Association head Bruce Robertson said some restaurants were starting to notice a slight slump in the number of mouths at tables.

"There is a feeling that things were a bit quieter during December," he said.

"We are putting part of that down to some people having less discretionary income as mortgage rates start to move up."

Despite talk of businesses cutting costs to prepare for the economic slowdown, Mr Robertson said the corporate spend over the pre-Christmas period was still high.