Budget cash for Canterbury urged

Friday, 31 May 2024

Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivering her Budget on Thursday.

Canterbury’s fast growth must be recognised when the Government divvies up the Budget spending it announced on Thursday, Business Canterbury says.

The organisation’s chief executive, Leeann Watson, said investment in Christchurch as New Zealand’s fastest-growing main centre and the South Island’s business hub was vital.

Census figures released on Wednesday revealed greater Christchurch’s population has jumped almost 10% in five years.

Budget spending must recognise Canterbury and Christchurch as the South Island’s business hub, Business Canterbury says.

“Record number of people and businesses are coming to Canterbury from around New Zealand. There’s a real opportunity for Government to leverage that,” Watson said after Finance Minister Nicola Willis presented her 2024 Budget.

A survey of 400 Canterbury businesses this month showed inflationary pressure and rising interest rates, followed by consumer confidence and demand, were their biggest concerns.

Businesses said they wanted a Government focus on improving infrastructure, health, law and order and education, and that was what the Budget delivered, Watson said.

Stuff senior journalist Aaron Dahmen breaks down Budget 2024 - the first for Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

“An additional $8.15 billion spend on health and education will be welcomed by businesses.”

She described it as “a no-frills Budget that appears to be focused on getting back to the basics”.

The Budget’s moves at targeting the cost of living crisis, including tax cuts, would benefit everyone, she said.

“For small businesses, and that is 97% of Kiwi businesses, the cost of living has a double whammy effect, by raising their household and business costs.”

Business Canterbury head Leeann Watson says the no-frills“ Budget seems focused on getting back to basics.

Watson said they were keen to see support for manufacturers, and hoped the new minister for regulation would help remove the “red tape that holds businesses back”.

The Government must target how it spends its budgeted amounts, and focus on delivering outcomes, she said.

“We all realise that we want to get into a better economic position.

Jamie Moir, pictured second-right with co-owners of Christchurch bar Pink Lady, says the rising cost of a living is having a major impact.

“When we have a strong economy we now that we have good community outcomes.”.

Christchurch business co-owner Jamie Moir, who has been dealing with rising costs and a drop in customers, said on Thursday he was “really happy” with the Budget.

He hoped the tax relief announced would mean people have more money to spend.

“That’s going to go a long way for those middle income workers, which is also our client base in hospitality. I’m hoping that a little bit more disposable income there will make a wee bit of difference for us.”

The rising cost of living has made life harder for households and businesses.

Moir has four businesses - Hello Sunday cafe, Pink Lady Rooftop bar, and entertainment businesses Rolling Meadows and Sub180.

He said the rising cost-of-living has had a real impact.

“The expenses going up, primarily wages, has been a real hard one for us because it has bled through to all of our expenses.

“You have people like the butcher calling us up and saying their wages have gone up, which means their costs are going up.”

Because the cost of living made things more expensive, fewer people had disposable income to spend at cafes and events, he said.

“It’s really tricky, especially during the weekdays, that regular trade with people coming in for coffees, that's been really hard to keep up with.”

Moir said the one thing he would have liked to see was more money invested in front line services such as police, because of the frequency of crime and ramraids affecting businesses.

He acknowledged there had to be sacrifices in the Budget, and was happy to hear the country is expected to be back in surplus from 2027.