The leftist government of New Zealand will begin handing out millions of checks in an attempt to fight inflation, despite government spending typically being a key contributor to inflation.
In order to supposedly combat inflation, which has risen to a 30-year-high in New Zealand, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced on Thursday that the Labour Party-controlled government would be issuing 350NZD ($225/£180) in checks to some 2.1 million Kiwis in weekly payments over the next three months.
All adults who earned less than 70,001 NZD ($45,000/£36,000) in the previous fiscal year will automatically qualify for the stimulus checks in order to help the “squeezed middle,” New Zealand’s Stuff news website reported.
Leftist Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that the government spending was necessary to take the “hard edge” off inflation, which has hit 6.9 per cent, the highest level in three decades experienced by the island nation.
“The Budget eases the impact of global inflation on families. While we know the current storm will pass, it’s important we do what we can to take the hard edges off it now,” the PM said.
The government has predicted that approximately 81 per cent of all adults in the country will either receive the cost of living stimulus checks or the winter energy subsidy, which stands at 450NZD ($288/£230) for single individuals or 700NZD ($448/£359) for couples.
“Now is not the time to dismantle our hard work and preparation, to remove our armour just as the battle begins” Ardern insisted at a press conference https://t.co/WtSk9oNFQo
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 21, 2022
The plan to combat inflation by increasing government spending was criticised by the leader of the opposition, Christopher Luxon of the New Zealand National Party, who argued that tax cuts would help more people than handing out checks.
“With inflation at a 30-year-high and prices running laps around wages, Kiwis are experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. The forecasts today show inflation is rampant for years to come,” Luxon said on Thursday.
“More and more Kiwis are falling behind each week, squeezed by growing costs and a Government that refuses to offer them meaningful income tax relief while ramming through the biggest spend-up in New Zealand history.
“Not content with a $6 billion spending spree, they’ve also raided future budgets – spending $2 billion from Budget 2023 and $0.4 billion from Budget 2024. And that’s before you count climate spending and the cost of living bandaid – which are on top.”
Luxon went on to warn that the government’s “spending addiction” will mean that the economy will be sent spiralling “backwards”.
The spending spree comes amid warnings that New Zealand may be facing a recession, with the country’s central bank warning that there is a danger that the “wheels well and truly fall off” of the economy and plunge into negative growth.
The checks will also come as the Ardern regime in Wellington is set to finally loosen border restrictions in July, after two years of the country being essentially cut off from much of the outside world during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
New Zealand to Fully Reopen Borders in July After Two Years of Lockdownshttps://t.co/eMzFyvKP0R
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 12, 2022
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