Edmonds claims Labour reduced debt!

The Herald reports:

Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds has replaced a graph that incorrectly stated the Ardern-Hipkins Government reduced New Zealand’s debt levels by about $31 billion in its second term. …

In fact, depending on what measure you use, Labour’s second term saw a rapid increase in borrowing thanks to the pandemic, reducing the tax take and increasing expenses. Debt increased by $72b or $36b by two of the most common recent metrics.

It is a concern that Labour’s Finance Spokesperson doesn’t even realise debt increased massively under the former Labour Government.

In June 2017 net core crown debt was $59.5b. In June 2023 it was $155.3b.

That’s an average increase of:

• $15,970,000,000 a year
• $1,330,000,000 a month
• $306,000,000 a week
• $43,7000,000 a day
• $1,820,000 an hour
• $30,376 a minute
• $506 a second

And Labour are claiming they reduced debt!