Search

New Zealand has depended on overseas trade and capital for its prosperity from colonial times. But prejudice against foreigners and foreign capital will always be with us. Read more

Key points As measured by the OECD's FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index and analysed by The New Zealand Initiative: New Zealand has the sixth most restrictive FDI regime in the world New Zealand has the most restrictive FDI regime in manufacturing New Zealand runs the third-most restrictive FDI regime in restaurants and hotels Almost all of New Zealand's restrictiveness comes from screening processes - bureaucrats and ministers assessing how 'good' an investment is going to be for New Zealand, despite their poor incentives and lack of commercial knowledge. Of the 55 countries the OECD measured for FDI restrictiveness, 35 do not even have screening tests In addition: The 'sensitive land' and 25% ownership clauses in the Overseas Investment Act catch virtually any reasonably sized direct overseas investment Over the past 15 years, many other nations have substantially liberalised their overseas investment regimes, leaving New Zealand in a less competitive position to attract FDI Since 1993, the amount of FDI New Zealand attracts has trended down by 2% per decade, although the relationship is suggestive rather than robust at this point All New Zealanders can be expected to bear the cost of these foreign investment barriers through lower property values, a higher cost of capital, and weaker economic growth. Read more

A joint submission by the Major Electricity Users’ Group and the New Zealand Business Roundtable on the 2012-13 appropriations for electricity efficiency appropriation. Read more

A submission on the Spending Cap (People's Veto) Bill to require a voter referendum to approve any real per capita increase in core Crown operating spending and proposed strengthening measures. Read more

We see the issue of welfare dependency and welfare costs as hugely important – economically, fiscally and socially. The WWG’s work should be seen in the context of the precarious current economic situation, with an anaemic GDP growth outlook and dangerous external vulnerabilities due to very high foreign indebtedness. Read more

Plugging the gap proposes 14 policy directions to improve the success of internationalising New Zealand businesses. Internationalisation performance improvement will accelerate growth in high value exports and lift prosperity. Read more

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has the potential to play a positive role in relation to New Zealand’s financial markets provided that its approach to the exercise of its significant regulatory powers is measured and responsible. Read more

The Business Roundtable welcomes the establishment of the Savings Working Group. We think there has been much mistaken analysis around savings over the past decade, especially by the Treasury, and that as a result, costly policies have been based on false premises. Read more

Holidays legislation remains complex and difficult to administer. It is far less problematical in many countries, including Australia. Read more

The Business Roundtable believes that New Zealand employment law has become unnecessarily complex and costly for both employers and employees. Contrary to common misconceptions, there is no inherent and systematic imbalance in bargaining power in the labour market. Read more