WELLINGTON, Jul 27 (NNN-XINHUA) – Higher prices for transport and food have driven up inflation for the all-households group in the Jun, 2021 quarter, New Zealand’s statistics department Stats NZ said today.
The “all households group” represents all private New Zealand-resident households, according to Stats NZ.
Inflation for the all-households group, as measured by the household living-costs price indexes (HLPIs), increased by 1.1 percent in the Jun, 2021 quarter.
Each quarter, the HLPIs calculate how inflation affects 13 different groups, while the Consumers Price Index (CPI) calculates how inflation affects New Zealand as a whole, Stats NZ said, adding, the CPI is primarily used for monetary policy, while HLPI measures cost of living.
In the Jun, 2021 quarter, all 13 groups experienced inflation of between one and 1.2 percent, it said.
Transport prices were up 2.8 percent for the all-households group, in Jun, mainly influenced by higher petrol prices. This affected low- to middle-spending groups the most. Transport prices were up 3.1 percent for the lowest-spending group, compared with 2.3 percent for the highest-spending group, statistics show.
“Low- to middle-spending groups typically spend a larger proportion of their expenditure on petrol and public transport,” consumers prices manager, Matthew Stansfield said in a statement.
Food prices were up 1.5 percent for the all-households group in the Jun, 2021 quarter, mainly influenced by higher prices for vegetables, Stansfield said.
“On average, beneficiary households spend almost a third of their income on rent, so rising rents have a bigger impact on beneficiary households than for the other household groups,” Stansfield said.
“A year ago, in the Jun, 2020 quarter, we saw lower petrol prices and also many public transport services being free around the country, during the COVID-19 lockdown.”
Transport prices have increased 11 percent for the all-households group, while transport prices for the highest-spending households increased 8.6 percent, compared with 12 percent for the lowest-spending households, he said.– NNN-XINHUA
