What sort of roof does the PM have?
The Herald reports on how the PM said:
A transcript of the interview shows she suggested plans by National would require big cuts to the public service and would see “your mortgage rate going through the roof because the system couldn’t stand it”.
The presenter responded: “It’s going through the roof with your lot.”
But the Prime Minister dismissed that: “Well no, no, it’s not going through the roof.”
Well first we have her economic illiteracy that a lower level of public spending would increase interest rates.
But the comical part is her insistence that interest rate are not high, or through the roof.
Floating mortgage rates are now at 10.70% and fixed terms vary from 9.30 to 9.95% at National Bank. The floating rate as recorded by the Reserve Bank has been at over 10% for 11 months.
In November 1999 floating mortgage rates were 6.69%.
The OECD has NZ with the highest interest rates in the developed world. Here’s just some of the latest data for countries.
- Japan 0.75%
- US 3.84%
- Canada 3.88%
- Europe 4.36%
- UK 5.61%
- Australia 7.18%
- NZ 8.82%
So how the hell the PM thinks she has any credibility warning against high interest rates, I don’t know.
The PM may not regard interest rates of close to 11% as going through the roof, but they are high enough to stop most people from being able to afford a roof.