Nicola Willis: Finance Minister on the International Monetary Fund's report card for New Zealand

The Finance Minister believes all signs are pointing to economic growth this year.  The International Monetary Fund's recommending the country continue to hike taxes and make spending cuts.  It predicts the economy will grow by 2% throughout this year, rising to 2.7% next year.  Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the IMF's quite optimistic about our growth this year, and she believes the economy's ready to bounce back.  She says they see it starting to recover after a difficult few months, and all of the bank economists agree.  The IMF's also broadly happy with the Government’s targeted response to the oil price shock.  It believes the annual inflation rate will peak at 4% within the next few months thanks to high oil prices, before dropping back.  Willis told Hosking inflation would've been a huge problem if the Government unfurled the money hose like a lot of people wanted.  She says there was a lot of talk about cutting petrol tax, and giving people extra cash in their back pocket.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.