Treasury v film subsidies

Wellington: Treasury has criticised government subsidies to overseas filmmakers, saying the economic return is probably considerably less than the money being paid out.

Eighty million dollars a year is spent on encouraging Hollywood moviemakers to film in New Zealand.

But in documents released under the Official Information Act, Treasury said the net economic return was likely to be only about $14 million a year.

The estimate has been peerreviewed by two economic consultancies.