A wake up call.

That's how the Auditor-General's report into the management of the Provincial Growth Fund is being described.

It recommends MBIE  evaluates its effectiveness - to make sure what's planned and what's achieved,  match up.

Maxim Institute senior researcher Julian Wood told Kate Hawkesby regional policy is not bad policy, but it needs to be done well - and at the moment, it isn't.

"It says we don't know what the PGF money is being spent on, and whether it's going to make a difference."

Wood says it's a loss for the regions, in what the project could've been.

"Every dollar wasted on the PGF is a dollar we could've spent on education or health in the regions."

LISTEN ABOVE