Douglas dismisses case

Press, 27 June 1987, Page 31

Douglas dismisses case

PA Wellington The Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, yesterday dismissed the case for the Government to publish figures on the full borrowing requirements of the public sector in view of the off-budget shift of expenditure by new State-owned enterprises. Speaking to the society of Accountants, Mr Douglas pointed to the variety of deficit figures, and this year’s surplus forecast, contained in the last two budgets, and argued those also wanting a wider borrowing requirement measure did not understand the situation. “If someone can show in what way the Bank of New Zealand ... differs from Westpac or the National Bank, then maybe we’ll think about it,” he said. Likewise, he argued there was no ground on which to distinguish between the funding needs of the new Forestry Corporation and those of Fletcher Challenge or N.Z. Forest Products, as large private sector participants in the same industry. - • Asked about the public accountability provisions to apply to SOEs, Mr Douglas said the Cabinet retained an open mind on the proposals for monitoring by the Treasury.

The Government certainly did not envisage any day-to-day involvement in the running of the businesses by Ministers as they simply would not work, Mr Douglas said.