Bill English's first budget is "as inadequate as a lone chopstick" says a privately funded think-tank, the New Zealand Institute.
"The budget's cost control measures will likely be enough to avoid an immediate downgrade to New Zealand's credit rating," the institute said.
"But like just one chopstick without its mate, avoiding a ratings downgrade was necessary ... but insufficient."
The thinktank said the Government should have taken bolder measures to address poor growth, to fuel the economy and make it stronger after the recession.
But the Government's flagship new "investments" -- such as more money for roads, prisons, and home insulation -- would do little to attract mobile businesses and talent when the world economy starts to recover.
The budget mainly focused on austerity measures such as cost-cutting, and the lack of a real growth strategy was disappointing.
The institute said the global recession was a disruption in established growth paths, which could provide opportunities for economic laggards such as New Zealand to pick winning investments over the next couple of years.
"The longer New Zealand continues along a limp growth path, the more susceptible it will be to economic shocks, and the more frequent those shocks will become," the institute said.
