Prices up 4.1 p.c. in June quarter

Press, 12 July 1980, Page 3

Prices up 4.1 p.c. in June quarter

PA Wellington Retail prices in New Zealand increased 4.1 per cent in the quarter ended .June 30 said the Government Statistician (Dr J. H. Darwin) yesterday.

Issuing the consumers price index for the quarter, Dr Darwin said that a comparison with the June, 1979, quarter showed that retailj prices had rise.'. 17.9 per cent in a year. The-‘figure, for the previous year was! 12.4 per cent. At the end-of March, 1980, when the quarterly index shewed an increase of 3.9 per cent over the December, 1979, quarter, prices had risen 18.4 per cent in a year. The contribution of each of the six main groups of the consumers pri. index to the all-eroups movement of 4.1 per cent was: food, 1 per cent; housing, 0.7 per cent; household operation.., 0.6 per cent; apparel, 0.4 per cent; transport, 0.8 , • cent: and miscellaneous. 0.7 per cent. The food-group index for June...!980. increased by- 12 points or 0.8 per cent from the May level. ,

inflation was dropping, < said the Minister of Trade : and Industry (Mr Adams- 1 Schneider) yesterday. 1 The annual rate of in- - flation had dropped from 18.4 per cent between . March, 1379, and March, i 1980, to 17.9 per cent for i the year to June, 1980, he f said, in commenti r g on the index. The 18.4 per cent,, an all-j< time high recorded for them March year represented aj peak in the annual rate ofli inflation, Mr Adams-Schnei-|i der said. It Items which had shown 11 the biggest increase in price.i over the krt year were fuel and lighting,- .public and pri- 1 vate transport, and tobacco ' and alcohol. “Clearly, energy prices in i general, and overseas oil prices in particular, continue 1 to have a marked effect on;: the index,” Mr Adam's-h Schneider said. The National Government i was the first Government in New Zealand history to;

double the price of food since taking office, said Labour’s shadow Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr J. A. Walding yesterday. The price index for the June quarter ore to shreds the Prime Minis'er’s claim that the basic rate of inflation was under control.” Inflation for the year to June 31 was 17.9 per cent, | compared with 18.4 per cent !in the year to March 31, .but. Mr Walking said, the? I index showed a significant! ;increase of 4.1 per cent “in la quarter where no big additional increases were fed in.” ; Continuing in f lation con-i firmed that rhe Government! was using rising prices to hammer down liviry. standards, said Social Credit’s economic affairs spokesman, Mr L. W. Hunter, comInterning on the consumer 'price index. The policy had its worst effect on those families' on low and fixed incomes, he said.