Adrian Orr's digital cash project proves distracting for the Reserve Bank, costly for taxpayers

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through the Official Information Act that the Reserve Bank has spent more than $2 million on its digital cash programme so far. The ongoing project explores the introduction of an electronic currency, and has an approved total budget of $4.7 million.

“Someone needs to tell the Governor to stick to his knitting” said Policy & Public Affairs Manager for the Taxpayers’ Union, James Ross.

“Inflation has been outside the RBNZ’s target range for 40-months now, meanwhile Adrian Orr has been busy playing about with digital cash. 

“The Reserve Bank has failed to do its actual job for years. What about their performance has ever suggested that giving them millions of dollars to chuck away on pet projects would lead to a useable, secure and cost-effective outcome?

“More than $2 million dollars have been already spent on consultants, and not one person has thought to ask ‘how much will a digital cash actually cost New Zealand?’ or ‘has this worked anywhere else?’

“Even more concerning is that the true cost of the programme comes to a much higher figure when wages are included for RBNZ employees involved. While they would not provide us with specific salaries, we can work from the mid-point for their salary bands, which adds a further $1.3 million to the overall project cost so far.

“The Reserve Bank needs to quit playing around with expensive side-projects and return its core focus towards fighting inflation.”