Foreign investment vital for NZ companies

Milford Asset Management senior analyst Frances Sweetman said the government efforts to crack down on money coming into this country were having limited effect so far because they were targeted specifically at residential housing and rural land.

Even with those controls, New Zealand would remain a “very, very open economy”, with an open government and investment regime, she said. The government seemed to be simply trying to more tightly target foreign direct investment to the areas of the economy were it would be of most benefit.

New Zealand was relatively reliant on offshore investment, but that was part of being an exporting nation, she said.

“The most important thing is because we are a very small and open economy that’s absolutely reliant on exporting goods and services you can’t be an open economy and fully restrict foreign investment.”