Simon Bridges National MP simonbridges.co.nz

New Zealand's economic performance is the most important challenge facing our country. The Government is borrowing $300 million a week.

In the worst of the recession, that was the right thing to do, as it gave much-needed support to the economy and Kiwi families. But as we come out of the recession, we need to get our books back in order quickly.

There are only four other countries that owe as much in terms of foreign indebtedness as New Zealand, and they are Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

We all recognise what's happened to those countries, and that's the reason credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has put New Zealand on negative outlook. If they do downgrade us, your interest rates will go up. It will be harder to borrow capital, and harder to do all the things that you want to do – from running a business to buying a home.

This week Prime Minister John Key outlined the next steps in National's plan to build stronger, enduring economic growth, deliver New Zealanders better paid jobs, and put the Government's finances in a stronger position.

He confirmed the Government will play its part in lifting national savings and reducing our heavy reliance on foreign debt.

As a first step, the Government will run a tighter Budget this year, trimming new spending to around $800 million to $900 million. This will set us on a path to surplus in 2014/15, a year earlier than forecast. Currently, we have a new spending allowance of $1.1 billion each year.

Secondly, we have looked at New Zealand's balance sheet. The Government, on behalf of taxpayers, owns about $220 billion worth of assets, and over the next five years, we want to buy about $33 billion worth of new assets. That's schools, operating theatres, ultra-fast broadband and major investments in our state highways and other transport infrastructure.

The question is how do we pay for that? If we borrow it, we are going to build up even more debt to foreign lenders and put New Zealand at greater risk of a potential ratings downgrade.

We've asked Treasury for advice on extending the mixed-ownership model, like that used for Air New Zealand, to four state-owned enterprises, where the Government on behalf of taxpayers retains a majority stake, and offers a minority shareholding to Kiwi investors.

This would free up capital to invest in other vital assets – such as schools, operating theatres, and broadband – and give Kiwis more chances to invest in large and proven companies.

We have not made any decisions - we'll make our final policy on mixed ownership known to New Zealanders well before the election.

Now the economy is building steam again, our challenge is to build a lasting recovery based on savings, exports, and productive investment.