New Zealand urged to review immigration policy due to record immigrants

Figures showing a new record in immigrants to New Zealand prompted renewed calls Thursday for the government to review its immigration policy so that infrastructure can keep pace.

New Zealand's annual net gain of migrants reached a record 69,100 in the year to the end of June, according to the government's Statistics New Zealand agency.

It was the 23rd month in a row that the annual net gain in migrants had set a new record.

The countries contributing the biggest net gains in migration in the June 2016 year were India (12,100), China (9,700), the Philippines (5,000) and Britain (4,100).

The figures fuelled calls for the government to curb immigration at a time of soaring home prices and a housing crisis in the largest city of Auckland, which is home to a third of New Zealand's population.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, while acknowledging that immigration has helped grow the country's economy, has joined business leaders in suggesting that infrastructure is failing to keep pace with the arrivals.

Leader of the opposition New Zealand First party, Winston Peters, said Thursday that immigration was "adding more fuel to the fire as the government fails to deal with the housing crisis."

It was wrong that government claimed that most migrants were New Zealanders returning from neighboring Australia, Peters said in a statement.

"It is clear three out of four, or 75 percent, are coming not from Australia but the rest of world," he said. Endit