English upbeat despite dairy woes

Finance Minister Bill English speaks at the Mood of the Boardroom breakfast event at the Langham Hotel, Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenha

NZ and global issues hot topics of discussion at breakfast event.

Finance Minister Bill English remains confident about the prospects for economic growth, despite recent dairy woes.

English yesterday addressed business leaders' concerns at the Mood of the Boardroom breakfast event at the Langham Hotel.

"While our confidence is being tested a bit by international events including [the] dairy price downturn, there is a fundamental confidence there and I think that's well deserved, and I think it will serve us well through the next two or three years with this softening economy," English said.

"The other reassuring aspect of it is agreement about the long-term issues we've got to deal with regardless of the cycle, around infrastructure, around housing, around skills.

"The fact that Government and the boardroom mood is reasonably aligned on what issues to address is partly because of the processes we've had which are pretty interactive around the business growth agenda and mean that we can keep building momentum around dealing with those issues."

Now in its 14th year, the event brought together more than 200 chief executives, directors, chairmen and chairwomen, and members of Parliament to discuss the results from the Mood of the Boardroom survey over breakfast and coffee, followed by a debate between English and Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson.

New Zealand and global economic issues, including housing, Fonterra, international markets and the general status of business in this country, were hot topics of discussion.

Infrastructure was one of the main concerns raised by business leaders in the annual survey.

English said that although dairy was facing issues, the rest of the economy was responding proportionately, with a fall in the exchange rate and a growing tourism industry.

Robertson argued that New Zealand needed to be looking to diversify its economy beyond dairy - and fast. "I don't think that waiting for one commodity price to collapse should be the incentive to diversification," he said. "We should be actively doing that because that's how we'll grow a sustainable, inclusive economy."