Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
The Minister of Finance says selling the government's UFB securities in Chorus would be hocking off debt, not assets, and could return enough money to invest in school and hospitals.
Nicola Willis addressed business leaders, diplomats and others at the annual Bloomberg address in Auckland on Friday.
The coalition is exploring the potential sale of its stake in the telecommunications lines company after investing in the rollout of ultrafast broadband.
"This is literally the debt that we're hocking off.
"We're simply looking at whether or not there's someone else who would be willing to purchase that debt in a way that would make sense for taxpayers, that would allow taxpayers to get greater levels of investment in hospitals, roads, schools, the things that they want."
The government had invested $1 billion in Chorus' fibre network.
Willis said the book value of the debt is $643 million and the government was seeking advice on what potential return it could get.
"The book value could be a very different figure from the value that the market sees and that's part of why we're going through this assessment."
Labour has criticised the move - accusing the government of selling off assets to try and prop its finances up.
Willis denied it was hocking off an asset.
"Debt securities and equities don't really fit New Zealanders' idea of an asset, we don't own Chorus in any way, all we essentially are is a debt lender to it."
Willis said the debt was due to be repaid over the next 10 years.
"We'll see what the market has to say. Cabinet hasn't made a decision on that matter but we are gathering the information to see if that's a transaction we should progress."
During the Bloomberg event, Willis shared her vision for the economy, covering the reforms the coalition has undertaken "to lift our medium to long term productivity".
She took a shot at the previous Labour government for holding back the potential for growth with regulatory and policy barriers.
The economy shrank in the June quarter and this week the Reserve Bank slashed the OCR by 50 basis points.
"Ultimately we need to use many more levers to drive growth," Willis said, adding that exporters had been rattled by US tariffs and that had resulted in lower business and consumer confidence.
"Sentiment was affected by the sense of uncertainty that that created, with worst case scenarios being discussed by many."
Photo: Supplied / Chorus
She said the worst had not eventuated and "things will recover from here".
Willis said the coalition had increased the proportion of highly skilled migrants coming to work in New Zealand, from 40 percent of the overall intake to 70 percent.
She said changes to golden visas had resulted in more applications - the Active Investor Plus visa, in which a foreigner commits to invest between $5 to $10 million in return for residence, had 348 applications since April.
That equated to more than $1.4 billion in pledged funds for the country, said Willis.
"This is significantly more applications than had been expected and I think it shows there is real interest in New Zealand as a destination."
Later, Willis answered a question from the audience about what the government planned to do to entice young Kiwis leaving the country back home.
"They start coming back when unemployment starts coming down again and when growth returns. This is a pattern that has repeated itself time and again."
She said people will stay if they see good jobs and opportunities for them to contribute and have a good lifestyle.
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