Like every finance minister in the world, Bill English would surely wish the clock turned back a month or so to give American and European politicians another go at averting - rather than inviting - a nasty sequel to the global financial crisis.
Treasury forecasts that the New Zealand economy will be growing by as much as 4 per cent in a couple of years were the glue that held English's Budget together this year. Those forecasts are starting to look a bit sickly amid talk of double-dip recessions - something Act's John Boscawen was unkind enough to note in Parliament yesterday.
English and the Prime Minister have sought to reassure people that whatever the fallout from the international debt crisis and subsequent mayhem in the financial markets, New Zealand is better placed to cope than most countries thanks to the Government's efforts to get its books back into surplus and thereby keep debt firmly under control.
Boscawen, however, observed that achieving such goals was predicated on relatively high growth rates in 2013 and 2014 bringing a surge in tax revenue. He asked how people could have confidence in the Finance Minister's low debt projections at a time of massive global uncertainty.
This drew one of English's more inscrutable replies. "The forecasts could be more or less than what was in the Budget. Just a few weeks ago most people were saying they could be more; maybe by this week they are saying they could be less."