Mr Lake Resents Questions

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 1

Mr Lake Resents Questions

(X.Z. Press Association f WELLINGTON, July 28. | The M i n i s t e r of Finance (Mr Lake) today accused Dr. A. M. Finlay (Opp.. Waitakere) of “not doing New Zealand any good” by continually bringing up the question of overseas borrowing. “It is a rotten thing to do.” he said. Dr. Finlay had asked Mr Lake if he agreed with extract from the A.N.Z. Bank July quarterly survey, which said: ‘At the end of April when these (overseas) assets should be approaching their seasonal high, first-line reserves were

£59 million, down £2l million on the April, 1965, level. In ■ spite of net Government cash borrowing overseas (during : the year to March, 1966) of i£9 million and I.M.F. draw ings of £25 million. In addition official overseas invest ments (which are excluded from reserves) probably fell by about £3 million." Mr Lake: Yes. In round ftg ures the statistics quoted are correct. But he said the suggestion in the survey that overseas assets were near their high level at the end of April was not reasonable. Dr. Finlay was not entitled : | to make any such assumption, •i “He is not doing New Zea- : ■ land any good by this,” he i, said. > The Leader of the OpposiI tion (Mr Kirk) asked if the II £25 million had not been with- : drawn from the I.M.F. what

would the country’s reserves have been?

Mr Lake: They would have been £25 million lower, and again I say the Leader of the Opposition is not being very helpful to the country. It is a rotten thing to do. The Speaker (Sir Ronald Algie) asked Mr Lake to withdraw the last remark. Mr Lake: 1 will withdraw the word “rotten” and say it was a “dreadful” thing to do. The Speaker asked him to withdraw fully and Mr Lake agreed. To further questions, Mr Lake said he expected New Zealand's reserves to be adequate for the country’s needs. “At no stage has the Minister of Finance been in a painful situation, and I deplore that responsible people should try, during negotiations, to denigrate New Zealand,” he said.

Mr Kirk asked what these negotiations were. Mr Lake said he had already said that New Zealand had been given authority to raise a loan on the London market and negotiations for this were proceeding. To Mr R. J. Tizard (Opp., Pakuranga), Mr Lake said that in view of the rise in the British bank rate it was expected the interest rates of the loan would be a “little higher.” “The British authorities have consented to New Zealand raising a loan on the London market this year and this will be arranged at an opportune time. “It is too early to comment on interest rates at this stage, but it is expected that the rate will be a little higher than for last year’s London loan of- £lO million."