Inflation hits highest level in three decades

Annual inflation has hit 6.9 percent for the year to March 31, the largest movement since a 7.6 percent annual increase in the year to the June 1990 quarter, StatsNZ said today.

• Govt cops flak over inflation surge

The figure was lower than some economists had feared: some forecasts had been up to 7.4 percent.

The New Zealand dollar fell by just over a quarter of a US cent to US67.86c in the minutes after the CPI's release. Bond yields were unchanged.

The quarterly inflation rate was 1.8 percent.

Food prices rose sharply in the quarter, up 3.1 percent, influenced by fruit and vegetables (up 9.3 percent) and grocery food (up 2.4 percent).

Housing and household utilities rose 1.8 percent, influenced by home ownership (up 3.5 percent) and actual rentals for housing (up 1.1 percent).

Transport rose 3.3 percent, influenced by private transport supplies and services (up 6.6 percent) and partly offset by a fall in passenger transport services (down 9 percent).

The 6.9 percent annual increase follows an annual increase of 5.9 percent in the December 2021 quarter.

Across the annual period the most significant contributor increase in the CPI between was housing and household utilities, which increased 8.6 percent.

The area within housing and household utilities that contributed the most to this increase was purchase of housing, up 18 percent. Actual rentals for housing also contributed to this increase, up 4 percent.

Transport was the second most significant contributor to annual inflation, up 14 percent.

The largest driver of this was a 32 percent increase in petrol price.