OIO's massive miss, challenging Auckland and a Japanese bond tsunami
Outlandish figure slips past Overseas Investment Office in Chinese company's application.
What the Overseas Investment Office missed in its review of a Chinese company's application.
The error in Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group's application – spotted by the National Business Review and revealed in today's print edition – amounts to about 6% of New Zealand's GDP.
Labour's finance spokesman David Parker calls the OIO's work "shoddy" and says it is embarrassing the OIO did not catch such an obvious error.
Yili – which got OIO approval – is spending $203.5 million developing a dairy processing factory in South Canterbury.
Also in today's paper, NBR reveals details of Chinese government subsidies related directly to the melamine scandal given to Yili's rival Yashili International Holdings – another Chinese company planning to build a dairy factory in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, as a possible counterweight to recent comments Wellington is "dying", Grow Wellington's board chairman Paul Mersi challenges the idea that Auckland should have the lion's share of the country's population growth.
He asks is that the best thing for Auckland or the country?
In NBR In Depth, economist Neville Bennett worries about the incalculable ripples being sent out by Japan's massive devaluation, including the possible knock-on effects of zooming bond yields on its banking system and other markets.
Economics editor Rob Hosking reports on the growing international dimension to Inland Revenue's long-awaited guidance on avoidance rules.
And in NBR Property, Chris Hutching reveals the sale figure for Auckland's historic DeBrett Hotel.
Jacqueline Rowarth, in her regular Heartland column, says constant restructuring is sapping New Zealand business's potential to evolve.
Elsewhere in the paper, Shoeshine details the Takeovers Panel's lack of concern over the recent New Image Group takeover by controlling shareholder Graeme Clegg, Nathan Smith notes Russia's stronger ties with Vietnam, while Order Paper warns the government not to place too much emphasis on its budgeted 2015 surplus.
NBR Online staff
Wed, 11 Jul 2018
Wed, 11 Jul 2018
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OIO's massive miss, challenging Auckland and a Japanese bond tsunami
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