Mr Muldoon looks at Tokyo loans

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33778, 26 February 1975, Page 18

Mr Muldoon looks at Tokyo loans

I.V.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

TOKYO, February 25.

New Zealand’s balance of payments position was so critical that the Government would have to borrow on the Japanese market if it opened later this year — despite Labour criticism of the former National Government for “prospecting” for a loan in Japan in 1971, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Muldoon) said in Tokyo today.

“My view is that if the Japanese market opens, the New Zealand Government will have no option but to borrow because of the critical balance of payments, unless the interest rates are prohibitive,” he said in an interview. Indications were that rates would not be prohibitive.

“The present indications are that the rate would be under double figures, but we are talking about six months ahead and, under today’s conditions, anything could happen before then,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Muldoon, who has been having - talks in Tokyo with leading Japanese bankers and heads of securities firms, said the Japanese market had had a loading which made borrowing in Japan more expensive than borrowing in Europe. “That’s why we didn’t proceed with a loan here in 1971,” he said. “But we wanted to establish our name

with the Japanese as we did in 1972 with France.”