Manufacturers’ costs up

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 2

Manufacturers’ costs up

PA Wellington Manufacturers are paying 16.9 per cent more for goods and services this .year than they were this time last year. The Statistics Department has released its producers’ price index, which at the end of the March, 1982, quarter, was 16.9 per cent higher than at the end of the same quarter in 1981. The increase compares with a rise of 16.6 per cent between the December quarters of 1980 and 1981. The index between • December,. 1981, and March this year " rose by 3.2 per cent.

The biggest rises were for dwelling ownership, which rose by 5.9 per cent, including plumbing, painting and paper-hanging charges. The smallest quarterly increases were for electricity, gas, and water. . An index of prevailing weekly wage rates showed a 16 per cent increase for the year ended March, 1982. The figure may be revised upwards when later,', back-dated increases are included. For the year ended March, 1981, the wage index rose 19.1 per cent. The..consumer price index, known; otherwise as the rate of inflation, rose by 15.8 per cent in'that time.