Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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Similarly, mortgages are classified as bank debt, which in turn is included in corporate
debt, so they cannot be included without duplication.
So, instead of adding all the debt figures, which wouldn’t give an accurate picture,
we simply add the public and private debt of New Zealand residents – we add the private
sector credit of New Zealand residents figures to the corporate debt of New Zealand
residents figures. 30
First, we take the total corporate (private sector) overseas debt (NZ$106.1 billion in
2001) and subtract from it all the money owed by non­residents. This comprises the
borrowing in overseas currencies by non­residents (NZ$38.4 billion) and the NZ$
borrowing of non­residents (NZ$21.9 billion). Using the 2001 figures, this gives a total of
NZ$59.3 billion to subtract from that huge corporate debt figure, resulting in a sum of
NZ$46.8 billion owed by New Zealanders as corporate debt. 31
Now we can work out our total debt, using the most recent figures available at
August 2001:
Government overseas debt NZ$16.4 billion 32
Total government NZ$ debt NZ$28.3 billion 33
Private sector debt of NZ residents NZ$127.1 billion 34
Corporate overseas debt of
NZ residents
NZ$46.8 billion
Total debt of NZ residents
NZ$220.7 billion
This shocking figure equates to NZ$58,000 per capita, or more than twice our GDP. If an
average of 7 per cent is paid on this debt, it would cost us each NZ$78 a week to service it.