Prime Minister John Key has finally ruled out the prospect of selling Kiwibank, days after leaving open the possibility it could be privatised in the future.
Mr Key says the bank will never be sold while he is the Prime Minister.
He fuelled speculation about the bank's future when he answered a question in Parliament on Wednesday by saying the Government's policy was not to sell any assets in this parliamentary term.
He said then if National decided to sell any assets it would put that to voters before the election.
Subsequent questioning by reporters got the same response, with Mr Key failing to specifically rule out the sale of Kiwibank any time in the future .
But on Thursday he said he stood by his pre-election promise never to sell it.
"There's no ambiguity in my statement; we're not selling Kiwibank... I made some strong statements on it before 2008. There's no ambiguity in those statements and I stand by them."
