Finance Minister Grant Roberson is wilfully out of touch with the magnitude of the cost of living crisis as rapidly rising interest rates start to hit hard, National’s Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says.

Today during Question Time, Grant Robertson couldn’t provide an estimate of how many Kiwis will face financial stress in the next year as a result of increasing mortgage payments.

“In the past six months, New Zealand has experienced the fastest lift in the Official Cash Rate in our history. This will have a massive impact on Kiwis with mortgages who will have to refix at much higher rates.

“At an estimated cost of an extra $285 per week for someone with a $700,000 mortgage, it will in many cases completely dwarf the Government’s temporary $26 a week cost of living payment.

“I would expect the Minister to have, at the very least, sought advice about the impact these increases will have on the wellbeing of Kiwis and their families, but he has instead chosen to bury his head in the sand.

“As New Zealanders stare down massive hikes in mortgage rates, they deserve better than this ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ approach from Grant Robertson.”