Slide 1 of 40

Thank you for this opportunity to brief you on the New Zealand economy and its prospects in the period ahead. Generally speaking, in comparisons between our two countries, New Zealand does well for a lot of the 1990s.

For a considerable part of that period, many of the indices show the New Zealand economy out-performing Australia. On the other hand, during the past 18 months or so, through the Asian crisis, I congratulate you without reservation. Australia’s performance has been superb.