New Zealand: Inflation falls back in Q2 amid coronavirus blow
Consumer prices fell at a four-and-a-half-year sharp rate of 0.48% in Q2 2020 over the previous quarter amid economic havoc wreaked by the Covid-19 pandemic, swinging from Q1’s 0.77% rise. In terms of specific categories, private transport supplies and services, accommodation services and passenger transport services recorded quarter-on-quarter declines in prices. On the other hand, prices for fruit and vegetables, restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food increased.
Meanwhile, inflation dived from an over eight-year high of 2.5% in Q1 to 1.5% in Q2, moving below the Central Bank’s 2.0% target.