Infrastructure and growth conclusions

The econometric evidence, while not definitive, is strongly suggestive of a connection between growth rates and infrastructure investment. The microeconomic evidence clearly shows that there have been some areas of under-investment in New Zealand in the past. And the international comparisons show that we have some distance to go if we are to rank in the top tier of countries for our infrastructure. Our relative performance in infrastructure is behind our overall performance, suggesting that infrastructure is holding us back. The challenge is therefore to improve our relative and absolute economic performance by improving the performance of our infrastructure sector.