Lily Stelling has recently joined the Infometrics Team as an Economic Assistant. This month we sit down to chat with Lily about what she’s working on at Infometrics.
Category: Infrastructure
New Zealand infrastructure spending lags international partners
Continued calls for infrastructure investment and shovel-ready projects have yet to be matched with actual spending, but this problem isn’t a new one. Infometrics’ analysis of international data shows that New Zealand has been investing in infrastructure at a lower rate than other comparable countries for the last 30 years.
Chart of the Month: Priming the pump on water asset spending
The past decade has seen infrastructure investment in our three waters heavily watered down. Compounding the issue, over recent years, New Zealand has had surging population growth. The lack of investment, coupled with intense demand growth, has been placing huge pressure on our pipes.
All aboard the $138b train!
A whopping $138 billion of infrastructure spending is planned across New Zealand over the next 10 years, according to the latest Infometrics Infrastructure Pipeline Profile . Updated in early November, the Profile shows planned infrastructure spending is expected to be roughly $9b higher than our previous estimate from September 2018.
Rising council debt across New Zealand
With local elections in full swing, there’s a greater focus on the direction that our councils are moving towards and how much is it going to cost. Wrapped up in these discussions is the the fact that right across New Zealand we need to address our infrastructure deficit after decades of neglect. Planning to address this deficit will not be easy, or cheap, but is critical to aiding growth and fixing our housing issues.
Breaking down the Wellbeing Budget
Today’s Wellbeing Budget is a significant departure from previous budgets. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has laid out an ambitious spending plan for the economy based around the government’s five wellbeing priorities. The test will be how achievable this plan is.
New Zealand to invest $129b in infrastructure over next decade
The latest Infometrics Infrastructure Pipeline Profile shows that average infrastructure investment across the country is expected to be 28% higher over the next 10 years compared to the 2010-2018 period. A total of $129 billion in capital projects are estimated to be built over the 2019-2029 period.
Chart of the month: local council infrastructure investment
Our latest Infrastructure Pipeline Profile sheds light on which infrastructure areas local councils are looking to invest in over the next 10 years. Capital spending by local councils is expected to top $53b over the next decade, compared to $39b over the previous nine years.
Chart of The Month: Doing the numbers on infrastructure
Infrastructure spending around New Zealand is a hot topic. Our Chart of the Month for August details our understanding of infrastructure spending across New Zealand and what is being spent where.
What is “other construction” anyway?
“Other construction” activity has been surprisingly weak over the last few years. This article unpicks what goes into other construction work and highlights that the softness might not be due to a lack of spending on infrastructure.