{"id":389661,"date":"2026-04-21T01:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389661\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:24:10","slug":"march-quarter-inflation-steady-at-3-1-continues-to-breach-rbnz-target-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389661\/","title":{"rendered":"March quarter inflation steady at 3.1%, continues to breach RBNZ target range"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annual inflation, as measured by Statistics NZ’s consumers price index (CPI), remained at 3.1%<\/a> in the March quarter for the second consecutive quarter, continuing to be a touch above the Reserve Bank\u2019s (RBNZ) 1% to 3% target range.<\/p>\n

Electricity \u2013 up 12.5% \u2013 was the largest contributor to the annual inflation rate. Statistics NZ prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said this was the third quarter in a row electricity was in this position.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigher electricity prices accounted for more than a tenth of the 3.1% annual increase,\u201d Growden said.<\/p>\n

Other drivers to the annual CPI increase were local authority rates and payments, up 8.8% with a 8.7% contribution to inflation.<\/p>\n

This was followed by meat and poultry which was up 8.6% and contributed 6.4% to inflation, followed by rents which rose 1.2%, and contributed 4.6% towards the March quarter\u2019s CPI.<\/p>\n

The 1.2% increase in rent was the smallest annual rent increase in 16 years, according to Statistics NZ.<\/p>\n

Petrol prices, a hot topic since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran began, showed an annual increase of 1.1%, contributing 1.3% to the CPI.<\/p>\n

The March quarter\u2019s annual figure is on the higher side of economists\u2019 projections<\/a>. In the lead up to Tuesday\u2019s announcement, economists were forecasting inflation of between 2.8% to 3.1% – with Kiwibank economists hitting the nail on the head.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank, after holding the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 2.25% in April, updated its inflation forecast<\/a> – projecting 3.0% for the March quarter (previously the RBNZ had projected 2.8%). The latest CPI figure is slightly above the Reserve Bank\u2019s inflation range, as it aims for inflation to fall between 1% to 3%, and has a midpoint target of 2%.<\/p>\n

Health insurance saw a 20.5% annual jump, while jewellery and watches increased 26.2%.<\/p>\n

Audio-visual equipment, real estate services, oils and fats fell in price in the year ending March 2026.<\/p>\n

Higher petrol prices the largest contributor to quarterly increase<\/p>\n

The CPI increased 0.9% for the March quarter, compared with the December quarter which had a 0.6% rise.<\/p>\n

Higher petrol prices were the largest contributor to the quarterly inflation rate, up 3.5%.<\/p>\n

Petrol prices fell in January and February but increased in March. It accounts for about 3.5% of household spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cPetrol is the third-largest expense item for New Zealand households after rent and construction,”\u00a0Growden said.<\/p>\n

Alongside this, prices for pharmaceutical products jumped 17.7% in the March quarter. This was due to an increase in prescription charges.<\/p>\n

Petrol and pharmaceutical products accounted for more than a quarter of the 0.9% quarterly increase.<\/p>\n

Confectionary, nuts, snacks, fruit and electricity also drove up the quarterly CPI increase. Boxed chocolates played a role in this.<\/p>\n

Lower prices were recorded for international air transport, which decreased 7.0%.<\/p>\n

Growden said airfares to Europe, Australia and the Pacific Islands drove the fall in international airfare prices in the March quarter.<\/p>\n

Overseas accommodation which was prepaid in New Zealand also dropped 4.0%, and milk, cheese and eggs fell 2.0%.<\/p>\n

Non-tradeable inflation up 3.5%<\/p>\n

The latest CPI figures show annual tradeable (imported) inflation went up 2.5%. Higher prices were recorded for meat and poultry which jumped 11.8%, and cultural services were up 17.8%.<\/p>\n

These were partly offset by audio-visual equipment which fell 21.2%, and computing equipment which was down 8.6%.<\/p>\n

Non-tradeable annual inflation (goods and services that don\u2019t face overseas competition but can be influenced by foreign competition) increased 3.5% with higher prices recorded for electricity, which was up 12.5%, and local authority rates and payments jumping up 8.8%.<\/p>\n

Lower prices were recorded for real estate services, which dropped 4.8%, and milk, cheese and eggs decreased 4.3%.<\/p>\n

\n

Select chart tabs<\/p>\n

CPI % year on year
\n Tradable inflation % pa
\n Non-tradable inflation % pa
\n Food prices % pa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Annual inflation, as measured by Statistics NZ’s consumers price index (CPI), remained at 3.1% in the March quarter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-389661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}