Labour on costs

David Shearer has said:

“Kiwi families have been hit with a triple dose of bad news in the last 24 hours, with petrol prices, power prices and food prices all jumping sharply,” says Labour Leader, David Shearer.

“Just in time for the school holidays, petrol prices went up four cents a litre to $2.26.9 for 91-octane.  That’s on top of the July 1 three cent increase courtesy of the Government hiking up petrol tax

Yes petrol prices have gone up – because the dollar has dropped 10% in the last couple of months. Now which party has been saying that the dollar is still far too high and the Govt should intervene to bring it even lower (and hence make petrol more expensive)? You’ve got it – Labour (and Greens and NZ First).

“The latest power price data shows domestic power prices rose by 2.2% in the last three months, which means the average household will pay an extra $50 a year. 

No it doesn’t. The electricity CPI was 1366 in Dec 2012 and 1368 in March 2013. That’s an increase of 0.1%, not 2.2%.

“And the cost of food rose by 2.1 per cent in June – 50 per cent faster than in June 2012 and June 2011.  In fact, it was the biggest single monthly food price increase since National pushed up GST in October 2010. 

Food prices vary greatly month to month. The sound comparison is food prices compared to a year ago as that takes account of seasonal variations. And food prices up just 0.6% higher than a year ago, which is historically a very small increase.