Nick Leggett: Infrastructure NZ Chief Executive on the government setting aside $65 million dollars to loosen the capitalisation rules for investor

The government's set aside $65 million over four years to loosen the capitalisation rules for investors that could be putting them off.  

Infrastructure NZ chief executive Nick Leggett says told Ryan Bridge this sends a signal to the world that New Zealand wants partners for building infrastructure.

He says if people want a stronger economy and money to pay for schools and hospitals, infrastructure is vital to that.

The Government's also allocating $10 million to help start-ups attract staff by deferring taxes on shares.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Government says it's going to help infrastructure investment in New
Zealand seventy five million dollars over the next four years
to encourage foreign investment in New Zealand infrastructure. Also wants
to make it easier for startups to attract and retain
high quality staff. Infrastructure ends ed. See you nickle get
with me this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Nick.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Good morning Low Ryan. Now how is this going to work?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, this is another sort of tweak in the infrastructure system.
The government has been moving sort of step by step
to make improvements and you know, in itself it's on
a massive tweet. But essentially, what they're going to do
is allow foreign known companies to fund a higher proportion

(00:41):
of their investment in New Zealand subsidiaries through debt. At
the moment, they can't do that. And what that means
is that it's going to reduce the government's ability to
collect tax on that investment. And so that's what this
sixty five million is actually really just income tax revenue
that the government thinks they're going to forego as a

(01:04):
result of this change. What it does is that sends
the signal that New Zealand is a better place to
invest in infrastructure that there are some incentives at play,
and it's really important because we are at the bottom
of the world. We don't while we've got there's great
confidence in our government and our and our democracy, in
our systems. You know, there do have to be incentives

(01:26):
to get people to want to put money into New Zealand,
which in turn grows our economy.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
As you said, this is sixty five million dollars over
four years. It's not going to change the world overnight
very quickly. Is there a what would be a big
ticket item you'd be looking for in the budget?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, it's really you know, there might be some projects
that the government want to move faster on, so perhaps
projects that they are they've investigated and they want to
drive faster. There might be some more money potentially perhaps
for the Auckland Second Harbor crossing. It could be things
like that, or new road, school or hospital projects. But

(02:03):
I would say this, you know the Prime Minister head
has investments some of a couple of months ago. That's
sending the signal to the world that New Zealand is
wanting to partner where it comes to building infrastructure. That's
really important because we know we've got this massive infrastructure
gain and if people want, you know, and we do
want stronger economy to be more productive, to be able
to pay for those schools and hospitals and in a

(02:25):
stronger standard of living over time, infrastructure is vital for that.
And so I think this is a good move from
the government, and it's one of a number of small moves,
but they all equal hopefully greater strength in our infrastructure
market and the fact that we're going to be building
more pretty soon.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, moving into Nick, appreciate your time. That's infrastructure and
nco Nick Leggett for.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
More from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
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