Government guesswork on its budget forecasts shows it hasn't got its act
together, Labour says.
Finance Minister Bill English on Thursday admitted a Treasury prediction that
the partial sale of four state-owned power companies would raise $6 billion was
"not even our best guess, it's just a guess".
The $6bn is midway between previous forecasts of between $5bn and $7bn and Mr
English says Treasury had to pick a figure.
Labour's finance spokesman, David Parker, says that's not good enough.
"The whole thing is looking a bit ropey," he said on Friday.
"The numbers are all over the place, there have been three separate
valuations."
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says guesswork isn't the way to run the
country's finances.
"They went into the election saying the figures were reasonably accurate and
now they're saying it's guesswork."
Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says some previous predictions were more
specific than they needed to be.
"But that's not my problem - I don't make them."
Prime Minister John Key is shrugging it off.
"Equity markets have been strong in the last few years despite global
weakness, we're committed to the mixed ownership model," he said.
NZN