Food prices ramp up March quarter inflation
11:40AM Tuesday April 15, 2008
By Brian Fallow
Inflation accelerated in the March quarter, with nearly half the damage done by higher food prices.
The consumers price index rose 0.7 per cent in the quarter, of which higher food prices contributed 0.34 percentage points and petrol 0.2 percentage points, Statistics New Zealand reported.
It pushed the annual inflation rate to 3.4 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in December and further outside the Reserve Bank's target band of 1 to 3 per cent.
For the year ended March the 20.5 per cent rise in petrol prices was a key contributor. Had petrol prices remained unchanged inflation would have been 2.5 per cent.
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