Latest / Best of Business / Cameron Bagrie: independent economist on New Zealand's CPI reaching 3.1 percent for the first quarter of 2026

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Cameron Bagrie: independent economist on New Zealand's CPI reaching 3.1 percent for the first quarter of 2026 · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: The inflation number has come in slightly higher than expected
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  Speaker 2: with the March quarter and add zero point nine percent
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  Speaker 2: instead of the expected zero point eight percent, which holds
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  Speaker 2: the annual inflation at three point one percent. Independent economist
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  Speaker 2: Cameron Baggery is with us. Hi, Cam Hi, can we
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  Speaker 2: blame this largely on the power prices?
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  Speaker 3: AH power food, A bit of a diesel petrol kicker
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  Speaker 3: came through in the month of March. But I guess
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  Speaker 3: if we step back and look at the bigger picture.
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  Speaker 3: The bigger picture is that we're going to take an inflation.
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  Speaker 3: You in Q two, the twone quarter, you kind of
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  Speaker 3: hope that the starting possession would not have been three
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  Speaker 3: point one percent, i e. Outside of you one to
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  Speaker 3: three percent inflation target, people were saying headline rate might
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  Speaker 3: be down at two point seven to two point eight.
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  Speaker 3: We didn't get a four We got a flat line number.
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  Speaker 3: Your three point one percent in the TB quarter last
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  Speaker 3: year has become three point one percent March two thousand
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  Speaker 3: and twenty six. You know, so we're going to see
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  Speaker 3: that go boying North in the June quarter where you
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  Speaker 3: get the real impact of this will move shock.
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  Speaker 2: Now, what's the explanation for why the pharmaceuticals have spiked?
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  Speaker 3: I'm not sure in regard to that that detail, but
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  Speaker 3: what we're seeing across the general health Groupeah, you look
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  Speaker 3: at your medical insurance bills. Now, those things are going
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  Speaker 3: up at double digit rates. But you've got a whole
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  Speaker 3: lot of areas here, whether it be medical insurance, whether
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  Speaker 3: it be your rates, whether it be your electricity bills,
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  Speaker 3: you are they're turbo charging. It's called double digit inflation,
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  Speaker 3: and that makes it pretty hard to achieve two percent inflation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, Cam, it's good to talk to you. Thank you, mate.
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  Speaker 2: Appreciate a. Cameron Bagery, founder of Baggery Economics.
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