The Active Investor Plus visa, introduced by the government a year ago, permits migrants to live, work and study in this country so long as they have at least $5million or $10m to invest in New Zealand businesses.
Ms Stanford, who was in Dunedin yesterday to tour local engineering firm United Machinists, announced that in its first year the visa category had already resulted in $1.49billion being invested, and a further $2.4b was expected to be brought in to the country.
‘‘It is really important that New Zealand has access to capital so that we can grow our economy, we can have more productive businesses, but eventually higher-paying jobs for Kiwis,’’ she said.
‘‘We need to make sure that not only were we attracting the capital that we needed to invest in businesses just like this, but also the skills and experience of those investors that are coming to New Zealand.’’
Ms Stanford cited United Machinists as an example of a company that had attracted private investment through the AIP policy to expand its business.
‘‘To hire more highly paid, highly skilled jobs, to chase more international contracts, and to make sure that, in a place like Dunedin, that they’re able to have this highly performing international leader in what they do.
‘‘It’s an incredibly exciting business that has been able to grow and expand because of the AIP programme, but particularly because of private credit.’’
Commentators have questioned whether a high enough percentage of the funds pledged through the visa scheme so far have landed in the bank accounts of businesses, as opposed to sitting in managed funds.
Ms Stanford said all of the funds procured through the scheme were flowing into businesses like United Machinists.
‘‘All of the money that’s flowing into New Zealand ends up in some form in a business like this, whether it’s through private credit, venture capital, private equity, or a direct investment, and that’s why it’s so important to come here and see what happens when we have a mature or maturing private credit industry, because this is where it ends up. It allows companies like this to invest and expand.’’
Ms Stanford said she believed there were more sources of private equity, venture capital and direct investment that New Zealand could tap into through the AIP scheme, and she believed confirmed funds would top $5b later this year.
Ms Stanford’s visit to Dunedin came after a tumultuous day for her and her National Party colleagues in Wellington on Tuesday, when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called for and won a caucus vote of confidence in himself as party leader
She would not talk about what happened in caucus, but did say that she supported the prime minister 100%.
‘‘I always have. I’ve spoken to him on a number of occasions and always pledged my unwavering support for his leadership,’’ Ms Stanford said
She also shrugged off talk of any higher political ambitions for herself.
‘‘I’ve not discussed becoming leader because it is not something that I’m interested in. I love my job.’’
