Eggs at nearly $9 a dozen, Kiwis hit hard as food and power prices skyrocket
Food prices in New Zealand have increased by 3.7 per cent in the financial year ending April 2025, according to the latest data from Stats NZ. This rise is mainly due to higher costs of vegetables, meat, and dairy products.
Dairy products were the main contributors to this increase. Butter prices surged by 65.3 per cent, reaching an average of NZ$7.42 for 500 grams, nearly NZ$3 more than the previous year. Cheese prices rose by 24 per cent, and milk by 15.1 per cent.
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Vegetables saw the most significant price hike, with an 11 per cent increase over the past year. Meat, poultry, and fish prices went up by 2.6 per cent, while dairy products rose by 2.4 per cent.
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Egg prices have also surged. The average cost of a dozen eggs reached NZD 8.89 in January 2025, up from NZD 8.37 in December 2024. This marks a significant increase compared to previous years.
The grocery food group saw a 5.2 per cent increase, driven by higher prices for dairy items. Non-alcoholic beverages rose by 6.8 per cent, with instant coffee prices climbing 21.3 percent to an average of NZ$8.21 per 100 grams.
The increase in food prices is part of a broader inflation trend in New Zealand. In July 2022, the country's inflation rate reached 7.3 per cent, the highest since 1990. Economists at
ANZ Bank
have indicated that faster interest rate increases may be necessary to counteract these inflationary pressures.
In non-food items, electricity prices increased by 2.3 per cent in April compared to March, while gas prices rose by 1.1 per cent. Airfares also saw significant hikes; international flights increased by 24.7 per cent, and domestic fares by 3.8 per cent, influenced by school holidays and consecutive long weekends.
Rising food costs are putting pressure on household budgets, especially for low-income families. Many are finding it harder to afford basic groceries.
Experts suggest that global factors, such as supply chain disruptions and increased production costs, contribute to the rise in food prices. Additionally, local weather events have affected crop yields, leading to shortages and higher prices.
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Time of India
22-05-2025
- Time of India
New Zealand Finance Minister Nicola Willis' budget 2025 full speech: Trump's tariffs, slow growth, economic challenges
Live Events Read Full Budget Speech of Nicola Willis (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel New Zealand Finance Minister Nicola Willis presented the country's annual budget on Thursday (May 22) in Parliament. Presented in the back drop of a poor economic performance in 2024 and the tariff wars unleashed by US President Donald Trump , Willis did not splurge as she kept new spendings for the 2025 fiscal year at its lowest in a decadeWhile expressing confidence that the budget will support New Zealand's "economic recovery now underway", she stated that the proposals take a longer-term view with an aim to boost future investment, savings and growth. Admitting that the last few years have been tough for New Zealand's economy Willis promised that her budget will help in faster growth, more jobs and increased she also added that the Budget is not a cure for all the economic problems the country is dealing with at present. "But we do promise that the decisions we are taking now will set our country up for a better future," she said in her the last few years which have not been rosy economically for the Kiwis, the minister infused some good news with her claims that the country is on the path of recovery aided by strong economic and fiscal management. "The recovery is being supported by lower interest rates and a strong export performance," she stated in her upon the US President's new economic outlook without mentioning his name, she stressed, "Recent tariff announcements have created uncertainty and volatility around the world. For a small trading nation like New Zealand, the global situation is concerning. It doesn't threaten the recovery, but it does threaten the pace of the recovery."Mr Speaker,I move that the Appropriation (2025/26 Estimates) Bill be now read a second Tangi Te Keo, tū te ao tū te pō. Te Whanganui-a-Tara, te karu waitai, piata mai nā.Kei oku nui kei aku rahi, nōku te hōnore ki te whakamaunu i te tahua mō te tau nei, tēnā koutou Speaker,As I said in te reo Māori, it is an honour to announce this year's is a responsible Budget to secure New Zealand's supports the economic recovery now also takes a longer-term view, with initiatives to boost future investment, savings and continues this Government's investment in health, education, and law and in a challenging global environment, it provides funding to boost New Zealand's defence does all of this within an expenditure track that reduces government spending as a share of the economy, returns the government's books to balance, and bends the debt curve from going up to going economic outlook presented alongside this Budget is a bright a tough few years, growth, jobs and wages are set to Government is not promising that today's Budget will solve all New Zealanders' we do promise that the decisions we are taking now will set our country up for a better Speaker,The creation and delivery of an annual Budget is at the heart of strong and stable Budget is a team effort.I want to acknowledge and thank the Associate Ministers of Finance David Seymour, Shane Jones and Chris Bishop for their ideas and were heavily involved in putting this Budget together, as was the Prime Minister, whose leadership and wise counsel was invaluable. Thank you, Prime Speaker,In recent years, New Zealanders have battled through an extended period of high inflation, high interest rates and low know that times remain tough for many good news is that – with strong economic and fiscal management – a recovery is recovery is being supported by lower interest rates and a strong export over the next few years, the Government's new Investment Boost policy – which I will come to shortly – will have a positive impact on tariff announcements have created uncertainty and volatility around the a small trading nation like New Zealand, the global situation is doesn't threaten the recovery, but it does threaten the pace of the Treasury has pegged its forecasts back and downside risks this, Budget forecasts show economic growth picking up to healthy GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 2.9 per cent in 2025/26 and 3 per cent in the year matters. It means more jobs, higher incomes and opportunities for families to get the forecast period, wages are expected to grow faster than inflation and, at the end of that period, there are expected to be 240,000 more people in Speaker,The government's books have taken a hammering over the past six years or has risen sharply. So has government Budget deficit left by the previous Government is structural – it is not simply due to the state of the other words, the last Government was living beyond its means – loading up the credit card to pay for things New Zealand couldn't did real damage to the economy, as a massive spike in the cost of living led to high interest rates and low Government is taking responsibility for cleaning up the our fiscal management, Government debt will stabilise, then start to come our control of spending creates room for monetary policy to respond with lower interest is no doubt that fiscal consolidation is would do it with higher would burden New Zealand workers and businesses, and scare away talent and investment. 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It would put the financial security of New Zealand at owe better to our to my own kids, sitting in the gallery today, I want to say that Mum's been busy your future, and the future of the next generation of New Zealanders, has been very much on my mind as we've put this Budget Speaker,New Zealand's productivity challenges are well after study has identified a low level of capital investment per worker, compared to other raise productivity, lift incomes and drive long-term economic growth, New Zealand needs businesses, big and small, to invest in machinery, tools, equipment, technology, vehicles, industrial buildings, and other capital Boost is a new tax incentive that will increase capital investment in New Boost allows a business to immediately deduct 20 per cent of the cost of a new asset from its taxable income, on top of depreciation. This means a much lower tax bill in the year of remaining book value is depreciated at normal a dollar now is more valuable than a future dollar, the cashflow from investments is more attractive and the after-tax returns are investment opportunities stack up financially, so more will be 20 years, Investment Boost is expected to lift New Zealand's capital stock by 1.6 per cent, GDP by 1 per cent and wages by 1.5 per are orders of magnitude, not precise values. But officials estimate that roughly half the impacts happen in the first five Boost starts today and applies to new assets purchased in New Zealand as well as assets imported from includes commercial buildings but excludes land, residential buildings, and assets already in use in New no cap on the value of new investments and all businesses, regardless of size, are is estimated to cost an average of $1.7 billion per year in reduced revenue across the forecast manufacturers, farmers, tradies and other Kiwi businesses, my message to you is this – our Government is helping you invest for your future and our country's Speaker,Continuing the growth theme, Budget 2025 funds a number of initiatives that contribute to the Government's going for growth I announced earlier this week, the Government has set aside $65 million to encourage foreign investment in New Zealand infrastructure, by increasing the amount of tax-deductible debt foreign investors can use to fund Budget also supports the science and innovation reforms announced earlier this year. These include the move to transform Crown Research Institutes into three new public research organisations, establishing a dedicated gene technology regulator, and creating a new agency – Invest New Zealand – as the Government's one-stop-shop for foreign direct economic growth initiatives in this Budget include funding for screen production rebates, and additional funding for the Elevate NZ Venture Fund to invest in the technology start-up has also been set aside in contingency for potential Crown co-investment in new gas fields to ensure future Speaker,While KiwiSaver has helped a lot of New Zealanders to save, many people's balances are would be few people who reach 65, look at their KiwiSaver balance and think 'I wish I had saved less'.The same goes for those looking to buy their first 2025 makes changes to encourage Kiwis to save more, while also making the scheme more fiscally 1 April 2026, the default rate of employee and employer contributions, which is currently 3 per cent, will go to 3.5 per cent. From 1 April 2028, it will go to 4 per this in over a three-year period helps workers and employers plan Government recognises that, over time, employer contributions may effectively form part of the wage negotiation will be able to opt down to the current 3 per cent rate and still be matched by their employer at that lower contributions will be reset to the default rate after 12 months, but they can opt down again if they changes – moving to a default contribution rate of 4 per cent but retaining a 3 per cent option – were also recommended last year by the Retirement 1 April 2026, the Government will extend employer matching to 16- and 17- year-olds. And from 1 July 2025, it will make them eligible for the government will encourage more young people to adopt a savings habit and help them build a deposit for their first may recall that the original KiwiSaver design included layers of expensive government subsidies that proved have since been wound back, apart from the government contribution, which is expected to cost an average of $1.2 billion a year over the forecast period.I am advised that the government contribution is unlikely to be increasing the amount New Zealanders ensure that KiwiSaver's costs to the taxpayer remain sustainable, this annual government contribution will be halved to 25 cents for each dollar a member contributes each year, up to a maximum government contribution of just over $ with an income of more than $180,000 will no longer receive any government changes to the government contribution will apply from 1 July do not affect the current year's government contribution, which will be paid out in July and August this all these changes together, the KiwiSaver balances of employees contributing at the new default rate will grow faster than they do at the current 3 per cent default rate, providing a larger balance at age 65 or when people come to buy their first from changes to the government contribution – which total $2.5 billion over the forecast period – are being used to fund other Budget priorities like health, education, and law and Speaker,A number of Budget 2025 initiatives deliver targeted cost of living include fiscally neutral changes to Working for Families to better target low- and middle-income 1 April next year, the Government will raise the family income threshold for Working for Families to $44,900 a year and increase the abatement rate slightly to 27.5 per a result, families with incomes just above the new threshold will get an extra $23 per fortnight from Working for Families, with this additional support reducing gradually as family income all, an estimated 142,000 families with children will receive $14 more per fortnight on average, and the vast majority of these families will have incomes below $100,000 a cost of this extra support is met from better targeting the first year of the Best Start tax 1 April next year, the first year of Best Start will no longer be universal but will be income tested the same way the second and third years are, with payments ending completely when a family earns just over $97,000 a a consequence, there will be families that receive less financial support than they otherwise would have, but the vast majority of these will have incomes over $100,000 a change to Best Start only applies for births on or after 1 April 2026, so no family will see an actual reduction in their payments. And, as a mother of four, I can point out that we are giving prospective parents more than 9 months' advance notice of this Speaker,Another cost-of-living initiative relates to a prescription for only three months at a time can be frustrating for people on stable, long-term medications like asthma inhalers, insulin for diabetes and blood pressure a repeat prescription costs money and adds paperwork for from the first quarter of 2026, New Zealanders will be able to get 12-month prescriptions for their will save Kiwis medical costs, and it will give health professionals more time to deal with other Budget also helps up to 66,000 additional SuperGold cardholders pay their 1 July this year, the rates rebate scheme will become more generous for SuperGold cardholders and their households, by increasing the income abatement threshold to $45,000 a year and increasing the maximum rebate to $ changes originated from the National and New Zealand First coalition agreement and will come as a welcome relief to many Speaker,The biggest part of the Budget is investment in frontline services Kiwis rely on.I want to take Members through some key areas of new let me clarify that when I talk about additional funding, I am referring – unless stated otherwise – to operating funding over the next four years, plus capital funding.I will start with 2025 makes a capital investment of more than $1 billion in hospitals and health has been allocated for a major redevelopment of Nelson Hospital, including a new 128-bed inpatient what is great news for the people of Nelson, the new inpatient building is expected to be built by 2029 – two years earlier than originally has also been allocated for a new emergency department at Wellington Regional addition, Wellington Hospital will get new specialist treatment spaces, an expansion of the intensive care unit and a refurbishment of the old children's Budget also funds infrastructure projects at Auckland City Hospital, Greenlane Clinical Centre and Palmerston North terms of operating funding, the Budget confirms a funding increase of $5.5 billion – previously signalled in last year's Budget – for hospital and specialist services, primary care, community health and public will support Health New Zealand to make progress on the Government's targets for more timely care, including shorter waiting times for hip replacements, cataract surgery and other elective 2025 confirms funding of over $1 billion to buy and deliver additional cancer treatments and other medicines Pharmac has announced over the past 12 the Budget provides new funding of $447 million to support increased access to primary care, including urgent care and after-hours services across New Speaker,Giving children a chance to reach their potential through the power of a good education is one of the greatest gifts a government can to my mind, improving the results we get from our education system is the single most important thing we can do to improve the future productivity of New funding in Budget 2025 of $646 million operating, and $101 million capital, is the largest boost to learning support in a will change the lives of children who need extra support to learn because of physical, behavioural, communication or other learning will also benefit their classmates, whose teachers will now be better supported to meet diverse learning with additional needs have enormous potential and, with this support, more of them will have the chance to realise extra Budget funding will provide more teacher aide hours, more specialist support, learning support coordinators, an expansion of early intervention services, and new learning support is also new funding in the Budget for schools' operational grants, early childhood education and tertiary education there is funding to increase the independent schools' subsidy to address price and volume pressures over time, delivering on the ACT and National coalition commitment to review the funding maths help will be available for students who need it, with $100 million of new funding for early intervention and is a $140 million package of services to lift school attendance, and this delivers on another ACT and National coalition more than $700 million has been set aside to deliver new schools, purchase sites, expand some schools and build new funding in Budget 2025 continues the Government's drive to restore law and Budget invests $480 million to support Police on the frontline to crack down on crime and keep communities are also keeping communities safe through stronger sentencing laws that mean less violent crime, fewer victims and more offenders in Budget invests $472 million to ensure Corrections can manage this increase in the prison population, including 580 new frontline staff. This reflects an ACT and National coalition commitment to increase funding to ensure sufficient prison Government is also redeveloping Christchurch Men's Prison, with the project set to be designed, built, financed, and maintained for 25 years under a public-private case backlogs will be reduced through $246 million of new funding, which will improve timeliness and access to is also receiving additional funding to strengthen our border, prevent drug smuggling and fight organised I want to mention Māori and Pasifika Wardens, and the Māori Women's Welfare League. They are the friendly faces when things get tough, and they are receiving funding in this Budget thanks to New Zealand Speaker,For too long, New Zealand's Defence Force has been allowed to gradually deteriorate through loss of personnel and a failure to upgrade 2025 marks a change in that course.A major uplift in defence spending will ensure New Zealand pulls its weight in an increasingly volatile does this by investing in the men and women of our military and the modern tools they need to do their uplift cannot be funded in one Budget we have made a meaningful start by funding priority projects including new maritime Budget also invests $660 million to improve core Defence Force capabilities across air, sea, land and terms of foreign affairs, the Budget addresses a very steep fiscal cliff in Official Development Assistance, specifically for climate finance, that was unhelpfully left behind by the previous Budget addresses this, at least in part, through ongoing, baselined funding of $100 million a year, focused on the Pacific. Members will not be surprised to know that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has made a case for more funding, and this will be looked at in future Budget also includes new funding of $84 million over four years to enhance New Zealand's relationships with Asian countries, address trade barriers and support the Government's goal to double Speaker,Budget 2025 sets aside $230 million for a new Social Investment Fund, of which $190 million is to purchase better outcomes for New Zealanders in investment is about the government investing earlier, guided by data and evidence, and with more transparent measurement of the impact that interventions are having in people's the next year, the Fund will invest in at least 20 initiatives, adopting a very different contracting approach than is traditionally used by government agencies.I know the Minister for Social Investment is excited by the prospects for this approach to change vulnerable people's lives for the Speaker,As announced a fortnight ago, the Budget allocates $774 million to fund initiatives in response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Government has committed this funding, across a number of different votes, to improve redress for survivors and strengthen the care system to prevent, identify, and respond to abuse in the Speaker,Budget 2025 allocates $6.8 billion of capital is partially offset by savings, leaving a net capital allowance in the Budget of $4 billion, slightly higher than the $3.625 billion capital allowance signalled in the Budget Policy Statement.I have already mentioned most areas of new capital expenditure in the Budget – hospitals, schools, the Defence Force, prisons, and the Elevate 2025 also provides new funding to improve New Zealand's rail network. Train commuters and businesses moving goods around the country will see more reliable rail services thanks to the Government's investment of $605 million for rail upgrades and addition, the Budget provides funding to deliver additional social homes and affordable rentals, including for whānau Mā Budget 2025 capital initiatives add to existing investments already infrastructure investment over the forecast period now totals around $61.8 a third of this investment in infrastructure will be spent on the transport sector and another third is going to education and addition, $3.5 billion has been set aside in each of the next three Budgets for new capital Speaker,Putting this Budget together wasn't involved careful choices and restraint from all is as it should be, and as New Zealanders have the right to 2025 strikes a careful invests in public services New Zealand needs now, while driving long-term reforms to lift investment and delivers new hospitals, new schools and a huge boost to learning makes changes to encourage Kiwis to save provides cost of living relief targeted at low- and middle-income takes the first step in a major uplift in defence secures the economic recovery Kiwis depend – as all New Zealanders should expect – it does this while setting a course to a balanced budget and an end to rising approach means New Zealanders can look forward with Kiwi can know that this is a Government that has their Speaker,I commend this Budget to the House.
Economic Times
19-05-2025
- Economic Times
New Zealand MPs' assets declaration not so transparent, questions remain
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