Government announces savings working group

An independent Savings Working Group announced today by the Government has a wide brief to consider how New Zealand can improve its national savings, Finance Minister Bill English says.

"Improving the level of national savings is the next step in the Government's programme for tilting the economy towards savings and exports.

"We have deliberately set wide terms of reference for the Working Group. The only exclusions are New Zealand Superannuation, which this Government will not change, and broad taxation of capital gains or land, which we have previously said we will not introduce.

"Otherwise, we are not ruling anything in or out," Mr English says.

The Savings Working Group will not focus solely on options for retirement savings: it will canvass a range of options for improving New Zealand's overall savings performance, including government savings.

Mr English's full statement is available here.

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