Exporters warn of job risk for thousands

Press, 11 September 1985, Page 8

Exporters warn of job risk for thousands

PA Dunedin Twenty thousand people involved in export business could be out of a job within a year if the Government did not do something to alleviate the economic dsituation, said the president sof the Export Institute, Mr John Lister, yesterday. Things were far worse than suggested by the institute study published last Thursday, he said. This showed that $258 million had been lost in export sales since the dollar was floated in March. A further $5OO million in sales and 2814 jobs were at risk. “This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Mr Lister told the institute’s Otago chapter in Dunedin. “The survey covered only 600 companies. There are

7700 exporting companies. You can add the producer boards and forestry companies, and so the figure of lost sales could be $1 billion already and $3 billion within a year. “Time will tell whether the Government wishes to take this gamble on the loss of export revenue.” Mr Lister said he knew of only one company so far which had gone out of exporting, although he knew of many which were hurting badly. Mr Lister accused an A.N.Z. bank economist, Mr P. Baylis, of being out of touch with the market place. Mr Baylis was quoted in an Auckland newspaper last Saturday as saying that exporters were still having a good time. “I would strongly suggest

that he sits by my telephone for two hours to learn how exporters feel. He should get out of his banker’s chair and find out what is happening in the marketplace,” Mr Lister said. Apart from the floating dollar problem, which has been exacerbated by the depreciation of the Australian and United States currencies, Mr Lister said exporters had to cope with four other main problems, which was an impossible task. They were the phasing out of performance incentives, the proposed phasedown of marketing incentives, high interest rates, and high inflation. Inflation and wage demands would be further boosted by the announcement from the Higher

Salaries Commission. Mr Lister contrasted the plight of the New Zealand exporter, now faced with GST as well, with Singapore. “We already lead the world as a major exporter of tax with our high income tax as part of our labour content, plus 45c — soon 48c — in the dollar company tax and double taxation of dividends. “If I was an exporter in Singapore I would have all sorts of tax havens and a maximum of 4 per cent company tax added to the cost of my export products. This is unfair and makes us less competitive.” Mr Lister predicted special draw-back facilities on GST so that exporters would not be penalised or pass on further tax.