Last week’s announcement that the inflation rate has fallen to 4.0%pa in the March 2024 quarter from a high of 7.3%pa in the June 2022 quarter will have come as welcome relief to households across the country. The latest household living cost data shows the same moderating trend. But it’s still a challenge for many households to balance their finances and more expensive costs.
In this article Principal Consultant, Rob Heyes, looks how households have fared with recent cost-of-living pressures. For many households, income growth has kept pace with cost increases. But there’s evidence that increasing numbers of households have been facing economic hardship since the start of the pandemic and are likely to continue to do so for the rest of this year at least.
Principal Economist, Brad Olsen, examines rising local government costs. With expectations that rates rises in 2024 will be the largest since local council reforms in 1989...
The government’s plans to fully deliver its promised tax cuts at next month’s budget must be in doubt, as the economy falters and the fiscal position continues to get squeezed. Compared to the government’s 2023 Budget, the deficit is tracking to be $1.8b larger than forecast.
New Zealanders are out exploring the world again, in large numbers. Those travels are easy to see, with scores of young Kiwis documenting their overseas trips across social media. Principal Economist, Brad Olsen, asks the question – how many Kiwis are travelling, and where’s the most popular spot?
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Economic pressures are getting real for people this year, as higher mortgage rates continue to suck more money out of household budgets, and a swathe of recent job losses undermine income security. Infometrics’ latest economic forecasts show annual GDP and private consumption spending growth briefly turning negative in mid-2024, and for slower growth than had previously been expected to persist until the second half of next year. Record high net migration means that per-capita results look even worse, with household spending recording its biggest decline per person since 1992 (excluding the 2020 lockdown).
