David PARKER
Spokesperson for Finance

16 April 2014 MEDIA STATEMENT

Interest rates rise but only smokes increasing

Mortgage rate rises are making life harder for homeowners, and many of them will be surprised the latest CPI figures show inflation would be zero were it not for tobacco tax hikes, says Labour’s Finance spokesperson David Parker.

“New Zealanders understand the need to keep inflation under control, but will be uneasy about their mortgage costs increasing to offset higher taxes on cigarettes most of them don’t smoke.

“Interest rates are lifted to see off forecast inflation.

“Interest rate increases hurt homeowners and businesses. New Zealand interest rates are already higher than in most of our competitor countries. Recent and forecast rises towards eight per cent make this difference worse.

“This difference will put even more upward pressure on our exchange rate at the expense of jobs and investment in the export sector.

“Labour’s response to this dilemma will be released on 29 April,” says David Parker.

ENDS

© Scoop Media