ESRI gives Coalition a bouquet of nettles

LOOK before you leap. Invest in physical infrastructure. And reduce spending on support for business.

With those three catchphrases, Dr John Fitzgerald of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) summed up its mid-term evaluation of the Government's National Development Plan (NDP).

Three years into its six-year lifespan, the NDP has certainly achieved tangible benefits for the economy. NDP expenditure will mean that in the long-term the level of GNP will be 3% higher than it would have been, representing a real rate of return of 14% on the NDP, according to the ESRI.