O V E R S E A S I N V E S T M E N T I N N E W Z E A L A N D

Former ANZ Chief Economist Cameron Bagrie of Cameron Bagrie Economics says New Zealand does not generate sufficient domestic savings to fund the country's investment needs.

"Foreign direct investment is a way of allocating capital to businesses with the best growth prospects, anywhere in the world," says Cameron.

"New Zealand is not going to get wealthy selling goods and services to ourselves. We need to crack the offshore markets... this is where foreign direct investment, and the broader benefits of such investment is important."

Cameron also says New Zealand desperately needs to unlock other areas of export growth.

And he dispels the myth that China is a buying up chunk-loads of NZ assets, saying this perception is not backed up by data.

READ CAMERON'S FULL ARTICLE

Putting some balance into the foreign direct investment debate