WELLINGTON, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Finance Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development's (OECD) latest review of New Zealand's economy as outlined in a report released on Thursday.
The 2017 OECD Survey of New Zealand notes New Zealand's "strong economic growth off the back of a booming tourism market, strong net inward migration, solid construction activity and supportive monetary policy," Joyce said.
The report is also positive about New Zealand's sound fiscal position with low public debt and a balanced budget.
"The report highlights that New Zealand outperforms most OECD economies in regards to our standard of living, health status, the quality of our education system and our overall environmental quality," Joyce said.
It shows that New Zealand's labor market is performing strongly with high levels of employment and relatively strong real wage growth since the Global Financial Crisis. New Zealand also has one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the whole of the OECD.
The OECD makes recommendations under three key themes - making growth more sustainable and greener, improving productivity and adapting to the changing labour market.
"One of the OECD's recommendations is adding debt-to-income limits to the Reserve Bank's macro-prudential toolkit with attention to satisfying a cost benefit analysis," Joyce said, adding that last week the Reserve Bank released its consultation document on that proposal.
Joyce said that the OECD report will be helpful in assisting New Zealand policymakers to respond to current and emerging economic issues.
