Simon Arcus: Business Central CEO on what Wellington needs from the Government's budget

The Government will officially announce its annual budget this Thursday.

It comes as Wellington’s economy has been particularly hit hard over the past 12 months.

The capital’s seen public service job cuts, people working from home and slow infrastructure.

What does the city need from the budget?

Business Central CEO Simon Arcus talks to Ryan Bridge ahead of the budget.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So let's talk more about the budget now. So it
will be your highest spending of any government in history.
Borrowing is still high. Minister's going to have to make cuts.
We don't quite know. We're from Business Central CEO Simon
Arcis with me this morning. Simon, good morning, good morning. Right,
very well, now you're in Wellington. Where would you where
would you cut? Where's the fat? Look?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
There isn't much fan and I think that's the type
wrote the government's walking. How do you how do you
balance some first all restraints, you know, keep not spending
with the reality of needing to boost the economy. It's
a really difficult question. And as you say, a lot
of the budgets big headline items are known, so I'm
not quite sure. Wellington certainly has had public sector cuts

(00:41):
of course, and suffered as a consequence of that. So
let's hope there's not too much more let space could
well be there.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, it's interesting. It's an interesting place for Wellington to be,
right because the rest of the country is going, ah,
just cut them, slash them, burn them, and you and
the businesses in Wellington are actually the ones that feel
that right.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, absolutely, what's really interesting about the direct government spending
into Wellington accounts for about twelve percent of the GDP
and while that doesn't sound like a huge amount, that's
before you've got all the extra professional services, support services.
Where a civil servant goes and buys a sandwich at once.
It's a big impact. And if you compared to the
rest of the country, that's only about four percent, So

(01:23):
it's a big It is a big chunk of our
economy and I think that's what's really made it tough
in recent times.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Infrastructure Simon. We're hearing about plans, we're hearing about cash.
Has anyone actually seen any money yet?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
One of the things that is a concern is infrastructure
certainly is high on the agenda, but we need to
see that stuff starting. We need to see the green
throw button with a lot of that and that's a
big thing for Wellington. And of course the other thing
that is a little bit of a bright spot is
probably the film spend and credive industry spend that down

(01:57):
here will have an impact too.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Hey what a businesses think if if she was to
come out on Thursday Nichola Willison say, I want you
to increase your employee. Can we save a contribution. What
do you reckon businesses would say.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, I think I think this is really interesting in
a lot of a government. If you think about fiscal
restraint but wanting to boost the economy. If you think
about questions around key we saver, you say we business
largely would the trajectory, but the john individual businesses or
the impact on businesses as the as the days and

(02:31):
weeks go on has been really tough. I think I
think employer contribution to kV savers something we got to
look at, and we've got to look at how to
make sure that in the future people will be more
secure in their retirement and less dependent on the government.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Simon, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.
Simon Arkis who is with us from Wellington Business Central CEO.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
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