IMF on NZ economy

The Herald reports:

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde was full of praise last night for the direction in which the New Zealand economy was headed.

Lagarde was the first ever woman to be Finance Minister of a G8 economy, and was rated by the Financial Times in 2009 as the best Finance Minister in the Eurozone (admittedly that may be like being the skinniest kid at fat camp).

After meeting Prime Minister John Key on the fringes of the Bo’ao Forum for Asia, in China, she talked to New Zealand reporters about the general health of the economy in light of a recent assessment of fiscal and monetary policy.

“All I can tell you is the IMF is very supportive of what is being done by the Government in that respect.

“If you look at the numbers, if you look whether it is growth, whether it is employment, whether it is inflation, whether it is debt, overall it is very stable and it is also very promising.

“If you compare the potential growth rate of New Zealand and thee forecasts we have which I will not disclose because they will be disclosed in a couple of weeks time, it’s certainly a lot better than what we see in other parts of the world.

Those forecasts will be interesting.