Taranaki will receive $600,000 over three years from the Provincial Growth Fund to employ a "transitional economy manager" to help diversify the local economy as the region moves away from its dependence on the energy sector.
Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau announced the funding for Venture Taranaki this morning, saying the Government was "relentlessly" committed to the region.
"We are fully cognisant of the impact of a changing energy sector on the Taranaki region and remain relentlessly committed to generating opportunity and growth in the region," Tabuteau said.
"[The] additional PGF funding over three years will enable Venture Taranaki to employ a transitional economy manager to work alongside businesses, iwi, central government, communities, and the workforce, to identify, create and support new opportunities, jobs, skills, and investments across the energy, food, Māori economy, and tourism industries," he said in a statement.
The Government announced in April that it would ban all future oil and gas exploration in New Zealand as it moves away from fossil fuels and a low-carbon economy. The announcement was a blow for Taranaki, as a centre of energy production in New Zealand.
