The Economic Context
Economic Growth Performance - The Government's Objective
Sustainable growth in per-capita income is a key to improving living standards in New Zealand. Over the past 35 years, incomes in New Zealand have grown more slowly than the OECD average. In 1950, we had the third highest standard of living, per capita, in the world. Over the following half-century, New Zealand's real per capita incomes grew a further 75%. However, for most of that period other countries grew even faster, and by the turn of the millennium New Zealand ranked twentieth in the world in terms of per capita income.
In its Growth and Innovation Framework (GIF), the Government set an economic objective of increasing New Zealand's rate of growth so that our per capita income returns to the top half of the OECD and stays there. This will require our economy to grow at a rate above that of the OECD average for a prolonged period. The Ministry of Economic Development has been charged with leading the implementation of the Growth and Innovation Framework to assist in achieving this.
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