Responding to new data confirming inflation is sitting at 2.2 per cent, within the official target range, ACT Leader David Seymour says:

“At the height of Labour’s lock-down and spend-up reign, inflation hit 7.2 per cent. When our Government was elected it was still 5.6 per cent. Getting spending under control is a long hard slog, and we still have work to do.

“Non-tradeable inflation was 4.5 per cent for the year, the lowest since 2021. Encouragingly, non-tradeable inflation was only 0.7 per cent for the quarter, suggesting it is slowing down fast.

“Continued discipline by Government and Councils will be essential to get local inflation under control, we cannot rely on low oil prices to control inflation in our troubled world.

“ACT remains ever vigilant of the inflation monster. The Government needs to forge ahead in its work to cancel spending programmes that are not making New Zealand richer.

“As mortgages come up for renewal, households will see real relief, and savings will be passed on to local businesses who can in turn invest and employ. That’s how we return to real prosperity and real hope.

“Perhaps the most important thing we can do to win the war on inflation is to grow the economy. I’ll be addressing this challenge in my State of the Nation speech on Friday.

“We also need an upgrade in how we get inflation data. The Stats NZ figure of 2.2 is for the months of October-December last year, implying a midpoint of November. Real time figures from GDP Live’s inflation tracker, based on continuous data from business, suggest the figure is now 2.06 per cent.

“It is time to make better use of this world-leading data source, inflation is likely even more under control than official figures suggest."

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