Q5
Q&A
New Zealand is being flooded with cheap imports. How can we compete?
Currently
it is very difficult to compete with countries that pay extremely low
wage rates and maintain poor environmental standards.
The
exchange rate is also a problem as the rate is influenced by huge
movements of money for speculative reasons rather than a true reflection
of real trade between nations.
We
will charge a variable surcharge on all uptake of foreign currency.
Speculative movements of money will be discouraged. The surcharge will
significantly reduce any margins made.
This surcharge will be known as the Foreign Transfer Surcharge.
Money
collected from this mechanism will be used to reduce internal taxation
and a proportion used to progressively pay back our overseas debt.
Bluntly,
we can't compete against low wages and poor working conditions in some
countries, but we can prevent excessive transfers of funds to those
countries by charging a fee for any currency exchange. This would reduce
their cost advantage. It would also discourage speculation in our
currency and give greater stability in that field.
Why
should we compete? We do many things so well that others can not
compete with us in those areas. But if there is a real problem our
proposal to make a charge on overseas exchange will help to balance it
out.
