Further Curbs On Spending Unlikely

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 1

Further Curbs On Spending Unlikely

(New Zealand Pres* Association) ROTORUA, November 5. The Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) sees no prospect of further restrictive measures on spending in the immediate future.

“I hope this will give you some comfort,” he told the annual conference of the Textile and Garment Manufacturers’ Federation at Wairakei last night.

Zealand’s capital investments could be $225m this year. “But even then our borrowing programme, less our payments, is not excessive,” he said. POLICY CRITICISED The president of the federation (Mr D. G. Mackay) said the Government’s “steady-does-it” policy no longer appeared tenable and could get the country further into an economic morass. Mr Mackay said the situa-

tion In the industry was changing “drastically”. The high level of production and turnover in the year 1965-66 and up to June this year was no longer the case. Stocks of finished goods were building up, overtime had been seriously reduced and accounts were more difficult to collect. This was a result of the Government’s policy of reducing the level of internal demand, he said.

Mr Muldoon said there seemed no prospect of eliminating the current account external deficit before the June, 1969. year. Mr Muldoon said New Zealand had been lucky to get its recently under-subscribed S3om London loan even on the market. MARKET “SHAKY" “The London market is in a pretty shaky condition at present,” he said. “It was extremely delicate. It could have happened that we could not have got on the market.” Mr Muldoon said New Zealand was fortunate to get its loan underwritten on very reasonable terms. He would have been far more concerned had the loan not got on the market. The external cost of New