Official figures show that New Zealand’s annual inflation rate hit a three-decade high at the end of last year.
For the final three months of 2021, the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 5.9%, the quickest rate since mid-1990.
This was greater than predicted, indicating that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will virtually certainly adopt more measures to contain growing living costs.
New Zealand is one of the first industrialized economies to boost interest rates since the outbreak began in October.
“Many other OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] nations are seeing greater inflation than in recent decades,” said Aaron Beck of Stats NZ.
According to Stats NZ, building and home rental costs grew by 30 percent in the year to the fourth quarter of 2021, while petrol prices increased by 30 percent.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has raised interest rates twice in the previous two sessions and signaled that it is prepared to take more action to combat inflation and rising housing prices.
On February 23, policymakers will make their next interest rate decision.
It comes at a time when major central banks across the world are taking moves to rein in the growing expense of living.
The US central bank indicated on Wednesday that it was on the verge of raising interest rates as it unwinds the assistance it has given the world’s largest economy since the outbreak began.
After numbers indicated that prices in the United States had grown at the quickest rate in over 40 years, the Federal Reserve, like its colleagues across the world, is under pressure to reign in inflation.
The Bank of England hiked interest rates for the first time in almost three years in December, and it is anticipated to do so again in February.
