Article – BusinessDesk

July 29 (BusinessDesk) – Even a swansong dinner with the Minister of Finance and Reserve Bank Governor couldn’t get Treasury Secretary John Whitehead to give up his austere ways – it was pizza all round.

Whitehead opts for pizza joint in farewell for English, Bollard

By Paul McBeth

July 29 (BusinessDesk) – Even a swansong dinner with the Minister of Finance and Reserve Bank Governor couldn’t get Treasury Secretary John Whitehead to give up his austere ways – it was pizza all round.

Whitehead, who stepped down in May to take up a role at the World Bank in Washington DC, gave Bill English and Alan Bollard dinner from Wellington’s Pizza Pomodoro as his farewell treat, according to the Treasury chief executive’s latest expense details.

The public sector’s financial troika spent $82.20 between them at the unlicensed pizzeria where a pizza typically costs about $20.

Whitehead spent much of his eight years at the top of the Treasury arguing for governments to keep a tight rein on spending, and oversaw the budget cuts under the National-led administration in response to the global financial crisis and New Zealand’s own recession.

Last month, Gabriel Makhlouf was tapped to take over the helm of Treasury. He previously served as Gordon Brown’s principal private secretary when the Scotsman was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair.

(BusinessDesk)

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