Covid-19

The ECB’s policies are the macro-economic equivalent of trading on while insolvent. All these interventions are papering over the cracks in the European economy, but they are not solving them.

New Zealand could keep its border shut regardless of whether it is possible to open it safely. But that would mean repeating the mistake it made during lockdown.

New Zealand must remain clean, transparent and solid in all its economic institutions. We are not a banana republic, and we do not want to become one.

To keep international investors’ trust, we must remain squeaky clean in our fundamental economic institutions. If we are not, New Zealand will come out of the Covid-19 crisis as a broken economy and a failed state.

New Zealand fought hard to beat the virus and now it deserves to seize an economic opportunity. Safely and selectively, the border can be re-opened to anyone prepared to undergo a strict quarantine – whether they are football players, investors or students.

It should have been a budget to steer New Zealand out of this economic depression. But it reads like a budget in an election year.

First, I never want to hear another excited word about shovel-ready projects. Second, I would like to see decent cost-benefit analyses before any new spending project. And third, I wish the public service would curb any over-enthusiastic minister on their respective pet projects.

Our recovery path will be bumpy. But good policy development can help clear the road and lead us towards a better future.