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Shane Jones says more than 13,000 people have been employed because of investments from the Provincial Growth Fund.
He says a detailed stocktake shows the government has cracked the target of creating more than 10,000 jobs through the fund's investments.
The opposition is accusing the Regional Economic Development Minister of being disingenuous over the number of jobs created.
National Party spokesperson Michael Woodhouse told RNZ reporter Yvette McCullough the figures only show how many people have worked on a project - not how many jobs have actually been created.