Audrey Young

The New Zealand Herald's political editor

Labour sees merit in Green call to print cash

Greens and Labour consider quantitative easing, i.e. printing more money to help stimulate the economy. Photo / Supplied

National has rubbished the Greens' call for the Reserve Bank to create money in a bid to devalue the New Zealand dollar as a "snake-oil solution" but the measure could be used by a Labour-led Government.

Labour's shadow finance minister, David Parker, said that while he did not approve of a Government telling the Reserve Bank which tool it should use when, "quantitative easing", as creating money is called, could be used to meet objectives beyond controlling inflation that a Labour Government would set for the bank.



The bank would behave differently if stability of the currency was also an objective.

Greens co-leader Russel Norman yesterday suggested the Reserve Bank create currency to do two things he believes would take pressure off the NZ dollar:

•Refill the natural disaster fund of the Earthquake Commission depleted by the Christchurch earthquakes.

•Buy earthquake recovery bonds for the Government's costs in the rebuilding of Christchurch, rather than the bonds being issued to largely overseas lenders.

Dr Norman said quantitative easing would mean the Government had to borrow less, domestic investors would invest in other markets, increased supply of credit would reduce interest rates for business and reduce reliance by banks on overseas borrowing. That would lead to lower interest rates and a lower exchange rate.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the Greens were offering a "snake-oil solution", adding that New Zealand had one of the strongest economies in the OECD over the past 12 months.


What is quantitative easing?


Isn't that "funny money"?


What would it solve?

A lower NZ currency would mean exporters would be paid more for goods or services, and fewer jobs would be lost.

Any problem with this?


- NZ Herald

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