Strategic Direction
This section:
- outlines the key opportunities and challenges faced by the Ministry
- shows how we will work to support the Government's priorities
- summarises how we will measure our progress.
Key opportunities and challenges
These are extraordinarily difficult economic times. Countries are experiencing the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, economies worldwide are falling into recession, asset values are falling, unemployment is expected to rise significantly, and many governments may have to run large operating deficits for some years. The impact in New Zealand comes on top of a longer-standing problem of relatively low productivity and wages.
Faced with these challenges, the Government has identified four immediate priorities relevant to the Ministry's work:
- Helping businesses to survive the economic downturn and raise their productivity.
- Reducing the regulatory and compliance demands that can burden businesses and get in the way of growth.
- Achieving a step up in infrastructure investment to reduce bottlenecks and improve economic productivity.
- Improving value for money from public spending so that government resources can be moved to where they're most needed.
Looking beyond the economic crisis, the Government has set a long-term goal of growing the economy to deliver greater prosperity, security, and opportunities to all New Zealanders.
How we will work to support the Government's priorities
We will work towards the Government's priorities by helping the Government to develop and articulate a more comprehensive growth and productivity agenda.
As part of this, we will help to develop productive, resilient firms that will survive the downturn and be internationally competitive, bolstered by strong trade links. We will help create a growth-friendly environment of high investor and consumer confidence, reliable infrastructure, and low compliance and regulatory costs, with strong links between research and business, in which New Zealand businesses can thrive. And we will focus on delivering value for money across all our work.
The way we support the Government's priorities is summarised in our six long-term outcomes:
- Enterprising and innovative businesses – improving the drivers for success and productivity improvement in firms.
- International linkages – improving the linkages that allow New Zealand firms to benefit from trade and the flows of investment, skills, and technology.
- Dynamic and trusted markets – improving the competitiveness, integrity, and effectiveness of New Zealand's markets.
- Ease of doing business – improving the way public agencies and the regulatory environment interact with business.
- Efficient, reliable, and responsive infrastructure services – improving the quality and reliability of key infrastructure services that support growth.
- Auckland – productive and competitive for the region and New Zealand.
The Work Programme and Intended Results section sets out what we will do and the results1 we are aiming for in each of these areas over the next three years. Figure 2 on page 13 summarises how these results will help the Government achieve its priorities and overall goal.
More detailed information on our work programme and the results we intend to achieve can be found in the Information Supporting the Estimates of Appropriations for our Votes. Appendix 1 on page 33 shows how each appropriation in the Estimates supports our outcomes.
How we will measure progress
We have identified a number of indicators to help us measure whether we are moving towards our intended results.
However, given the nature of the Ministry's work, there is not a simple relationship between the Ministry's work and these measures. Instead, their achievement will depend not just on the Ministry's efforts but also on other factors, including the effect of the economic downturn. Although the measures should provide us with some broad indications of medium- to long-term progress, they should be interpreted with care.
Appendix 2 on page 37 summarises the current status of these measures, to help us assess this progress over time.
We will measure our shorter-term performance against the output performance measures that we have provided in the Information Supporting the Estimates of Appropriations for each of our Votes.
How we will work with other agencies
Much of the policy developed by the Ministry is implemented through Crown entities. Our role in relation to these agencies includes helping Ministers set their expectations of them and monitor their performance, as well as advising on their capability, governance, and Budget issues.
Figure 3 on page 14 shows how the Crown entities monitored by the Ministry of Economic Development contribute to our outcomes.
Our goals are also closely linked with those of other agencies. In particular, we work alongside the Treasury to provide economic advice to the Government. The Treasury's main focus is on issues that have a pervasive impact across the economy as a whole. The Ministry's complementary focus is improving New Zealand's economic growth potential, drawing on our knowledge of firm and sector issues.
Figure 4 on page 15 shows the relationship between our outcomes and those of other agencies.
Figure 2: How the Ministry's outcomes and results contribute to the Government's goals and priorities
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Figure 3: How Crown entities contribute to our outcomes2
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Figure 4: Our main connections with other agencies
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