New Zealand is the only OECD nation still relying on quarterly inflation data.
Statistics New Zealand have announced that they’ll begin publishing additional monthly price indexes to assist the central bank and economists to more accurately forecast quarterly headline inflation.
New price index data to be published monthly are:
alcoholic beverages and tobacco
- petrol and diesel
- domestic and international airfares
- accommodation services.
Stats NZ produces monthly food and rent price indexes. The new data will be combined with the existing food and rent data in a new release to be called Selected price indexes (SPI).
RBNZ chief economist Paul Conway
- “Getting reliable price data faster is critical to our job of controlling inflation and getting it back in our target band”
- “Monthly prices data is a very welcome addition that will help the Monetary Policy Committee make wise decisions”