Export promotion cuts criticised by Labour

Press, 4 August 1983, Page 2

Export promotion cuts criticised by Labour

Parliamentary reporter

The Government has cut back spending on vital export schemes at a time when New Zealand should be expanding its export drive, said the Opposition spokesman on Overseas Trade and the member for Papanui, Mr M. K. Moore, yesterday. In the Budget the Government had cut the vote to its Trade Services Division by 20 per cent. This division had the main responsibility for putting together the Government’s export promotion policies, Mr Moore said.

Most of the cut had been to grants and subsidies for promoting exports. The Government talked about the importance of

export income, but did not put its money where its mouth was, Mr Moore said.

But the Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Cooper, said the Government had cut funds to two export incentive schemes because exporters were using another which was better suited. The two schemes comprised most of the cut and were the Export Programme Suspensory Loan Scheme and the New Market Export Incentive. The scheme to which exporters were turning instead was the Export Market Development Taxation Incentive.

Exporters were not losing out, Mr Cooper said. “The difference is about half a

cent.” Under the suspensory loan scheme exporters were given a grant worth 64 per cent of planned spending to set up a market overseas. However, they had to return to the Government an amount corresponding to any short-fall in their projected sqles. There were now fewer applications for the loan, hence the cut, said a department spokesman. For the same reason the New Market Export Incentive Scheme was ending, he said.

Under the Export Market Development Taxation Incentive, exporters can claim as an end-of-year tax return, a credit of 67.5 c in the dollar on money spent setting up overseas markets.