Commission statistics

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 17

Commission statistics

The Overseas Investment Commission has supplied “The Press” with the statistical information mentioned by Mr Douglas. It gives the over-ail figures for 1984, showing that it received 576 foreign applications to start up business in New Zealand (it declined 26 of them), and 289 applications to take over New Zealand firms (it declined 22).

The commission also provided the figures for Australian applications during the last seven months of the year — 141 applications to start businesses (two were declined) and 66 applications to take over New Zealand firms (all approved).

The over-all statistics for 1984 show the business categories of all applications, the

amount of money involved in the take-over applications, the vendors’ reasons for selling, and the percentage increase in overseas ownership of the business involved. For those starting business in New Zealand, the statistics show purpose of the applications, the percentage of overseas ownereship, and the paid-up capital. No applicants or vendors are named, nor any details given which would tell anything about individual applications.

“It’s not that we have anything to hide about our operations,” says Mr David Mansfield, a senior official of the commission. “We deal with a lot of public companies, and disclosure pf details of their; applications could have an ad-

verse effect on the share market.”

He says the commission follows criteria laid down by the Government, which has created a “relaxed atmosphere” for foreign investment. This is why such a large number of applications are approved. The commission is processing applications at the rate of 1000 a year, and the approval rate is over 95 per cent. But the statistics are distorted by the procedure followed by the commission’s secretariat. “They’re not worth the paper they’re written on, if you want to know the truth,” Mr Mansfield confesses. The reason is that the commission’s officials consult with the applicants in the initial

stages, and if an application does not fit the Goverment’s criteria, it is withdrawn. These withdrawals do not figure in the statistics. The commission does help applicants to get their applications right, even to the extent of advising them on the correct phrasing. So the commission sees its role as a facilitator of foreign investment in New Zealand, and not as a controller or moderator of it? “That’s right,” says Mr Mansfield. “Well, it might be going a little too far, but we try not io be too bureaucratic. We try to be helpful rather than, nega-