Evaluation of the NZTE International Growth Fund April 2015

Using the International Growth Fund (IGF) to assist high-growth firms to internationalise was one of the actions identified by the government’s Business Growth Agenda as contributing to the high-level initiative of helping businesses internationalise and the goal of increasing the ratio of exports to GDP to 40 per cent by 2025. Exports and the number of firms exporting has increased in recent years. The number and proportion of high-growth firms in the New Zealand economy fell between 2008 and 2011, possibly reflecting the impact of the global financial crisis. Both indicators have since almost regained their 2008 levels. The IGF is of a size that it could have or be having an impact on a significant proportion of exporting businesses, particularly those with more than 50 per cent of sales from exports.