New Zealand: Inflation at over eight-year high in Q1
Consumer prices increased at a one-and-a-half-year high rate of 0.8% in Q1 2020 over the previous quarter, up from Q4’s 0.5% rise and beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.4% increase, according to Statistics New Zealand. In terms of specific categories, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and housing and household utilities were the categories that contributed the most to the quarter-on-quarter increase in prices. On the other hand, prices for transport fell the most.
Meanwhile, inflation climbed to an over eight-year high of 2.5% in Q1 following Q4’s 1.9%, again beating analysts’ forecasts of a 2.1% increase and moving above the Central Bank’s 2.0% target.