04/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/16/2024 19:22
17 April 2024, 10:45am
The consumers price index (CPI) measures the rate of price change of goods and services purchased by New Zealand households.
17 April 2024: We have replaced the file Consumers price index: March 2024 quarter - Infoshare data - CSV to correct percentage changes. The written material, graphs, and Excel tables are unaffected.
The correct figures can be accessed via the file Consumers price index: March 2024 quarter - Infoshare data - CSV (updated) below.
Excel spreadsheet, 392 KB
Comma Separated Values, 163 KB
Comma Separated Values, 1.8 MB
Comma Separated Values, 2.6 MB
Comma Separated Values, 2.1 MB
Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 225 KB
Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 217 KB
Inflation rate for the March 2024 quarter:
In the March 2024 quarter, the CPI rose 0.6 percent (0.7 percent with seasonal adjustment).
The 0.6 percent rise in the overall CPI was partly offset by:
Consumers price index, quarterly percentage change, March 2020-March 2024 quarters
Quarter | Quarterly percentage change |
Mar-20 | 0.8 |
Jun-20 | -0.5 |
Sep-20 | 0.7 |
Dec-20 | 0.5 |
Mar-21 | 0.8 |
Jun-21 | 1.3 |
Sep-21 | 2.2 |
Dec-21 | 1.4 |
Mar-22 | 1.8 |
Jun-22 | 1.7 |
Sep-22 | 2.2 |
Dec-22 | 1.4 |
Mar-23 | 1.2 |
Jun-23 | 1.1 |
Sep-23 | 1.8 |
Dec-23 | 0.5 |
Mar-24 | 0.6 |
Quarterly percentage point contribution to consumers price index, by group, March 2024 quarter
Group | Percentage point contribution |
Food | 0.08 |
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 0.229 |
Clothing and footwear | 0.004 |
Housing and household utilities | 0.198 |
Housing contents and services | -0.052 |
Health | 0.064 |
Transport | -0.338 |
Communication | 0.002 |
Recreation and culture | 0.217 |
Education | 0.059 |
Miscellaneous goods and services | 0.137 |
For the 12 months to the March 2024 quarter, the CPI inflation rate was 4.0 percent:
Consumers price index, annual percentage change, March 2020-March 2024 quarters
Quarter | Annual percentage change |
Mar-20 | 2.5 |
Jun-20 | 1.5 |
Sep-20 | 1.4 |
Dec-20 | 1.4 |
Mar-21 | 1.5 |
Jun-21 | 3.3 |
Sep-21 | 4.9 |
Dec-21 | 5.9 |
Mar-22 | 6.9 |
Jun-22 | 7.3 |
Sep-22 | 7.2 |
Dec-22 | 7.2 |
Mar-23 | 6.7 |
Jun-23 | 6 |
Sep-23 | 5.6 |
Dec-23 | 4.7 |
Mar-24 | 4 |
Annual percentage point contribution to consumers price index, by group, March 2024 quarter
Group | Percentage point contribution |
Food | 0.439 |
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 0.516 |
Clothing and footwear | 0.159 |
Housing and household utilities | 1.246 |
Housing contents and services | 0.017 |
Health | 0.18 |
Transport | 0.285 |
Communication | 0.079 |
Recreation and culture | 0.521 |
Education | 0.083 |
Miscellaneous goods and services | 0.475 |
Country |
12-month inflation rate |
Time reference |
New Zealand |
4.0percent |
March 2024 |
Australia |
3.4 percent* |
February 2024 |
United Kingdom |
3.4 percent** |
February 2024 |
United States of America |
3.5 percent |
March 2024 |
OECD average |
5.7 percent |
February 2024 |
Canada |
2.8 percent |
February 2024 |
Japan |
2.8 percent |
February 2024 |
European area |
2.6 percent |
February 2024 |
European Union |
2.8 percent |
February 2024 |
* Australia's inflation rate is taken from the monthly indicator release. ** United Kingdom's CPI figure is not their headline figure, which is 'Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH)'. |
OECD Inflation has more data on international inflation rates.
The trimmed-mean measures - which excludes extreme price movements - ranged from 4.4 to 4.6 percent in the 12 months to March 2024 quarter. This indicates that underlying inflation is higher than the 4.0 percent increase in the CPI.
In the March 2024 quarter, quarterly trimmed-means ranged between 0.7 and 0.8 percent.
For the 12 months to the March 2024 quarter:
Use Infoshare to access the CPI time series:
Subject category: Economic indicators
Group: Consumers price index
Consumers price index concepts - DataInfo+ gives definitions of terms used in this release and general methodology used to produce the CPI and related metadata.
Consumers price index - DataInfo+ gives general methodology used to produce the CPI and related metadata.
Sandi Reily
021 285 9191
[email protected]
Alex Heath
04 931 4600
[email protected]
ISSN 1178-0452
Consumers price index: June 2024 quarter will be released on 17 July 2024.