PATTRICK SMELLIE ON BUDGET 2020: Is it enough?

Thu, 14 May 2020

Today’s $50 billion covid-19 fund, of which $20.2 billion is uncommitted, is a very large package by any measure.But is it enough?It comes on top of the $12 billion-odd announced on March 17 as an initial package of economic support measures, taking it to $62 billion. That’s around 20 percent of the current total size of the New Zealand economy, last measured at a little more than $300 billion.That’s huge.Another way of looking at it: the debt taken on to achieve this gargantuan emergency spend-up to try and keep New Zealander...

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