What is in New Zealand CPI
Stats NZ prices a fixed basket of goods and services that New Zealand households buy, across 11 groups from food and housing to transport and education. The headline, CPI all groups, is published as a change on the quarter and on the year.
The release also splits prices into tradeables and non-tradeables. Tradeables are goods and services whose prices are influenced by foreign markets, such as petrol and many imports. Non-tradeables face no foreign competition, and Stats NZ calls them an indicator of domestic demand and supply conditions.
Stats NZ also publishes CPI without food, household energy and vehicle fuels. Like core CPI elsewhere, it leaves out the parts that swing most with harvests and oil.
Why New Zealand CPI moves the Kiwi
The RBNZ's remit asks it to keep annual CPI inflation between 1 and 3% over the medium term, with a focus on 2%. A figure above the forecast makes a higher OCR more likely, New Zealand rates rise, and the Kiwi usually follows. A figure below it does the opposite.
Non-tradeables inflation gets extra weight because it shows price pressure made at home, the part the OCR can reach. A jump in tradeables driven by fuel or import prices says less about the months ahead.
Because the CPI has come only four times a year, each release has carried a lot of news. That changes from 2027: Stats NZ moves to a monthly CPI, and the RBNZ moves from seven to eight decisions a year, pointing to the monthly data as the reason.
How to read New Zealand CPI against the forecast
The market has priced the consensus forecast before the release. Also compare the figure with the RBNZ's own projection in its latest Monetary Policy Statement, because a result away from the bank's path is what changes the outlook for the OCR.
Then look at non-tradeables. A headline pushed up by petrol with soft non-tradeables tends to matter less for the RBNZ than the other way round.
Between the quarterly reports, Stats NZ publishes monthly selected price indexes for items such as food, rents, electricity and petrol. They take some of the surprise out of the quarterly figure.
What the New Zealand dollar did on the last release days
Our calendar keeps the exact time of each release since 16 September 2026. The first New Zealand CPI after that date will show here with the New Zealand dollar's move around it.
For scale: on an ordinary day the New Zealand dollar moves 0.20% against the basket from one London opening to the next, either way, on average over the 250 trading days since 14 Oct 2025.
The forecast, the figure itself and what it changed in our view of the currency are in the app, next to the research.