October 31, 2022 3:00pm by David Farrar

Govt should fund Stats NZ more

Stats NZ says it doesn’t have the funding or resources to provide monthly inflation figures, after the Reserve Bank and a top accounting body said more frequent reporting could help ensure interest rates were set at the right level.
Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (Caanz) said the Reserve Bank would be less likely to make a mistake by setting interest rates higher or lower than was necessary if it had more regular information on how inflation was tracking.

In this era of high inflation, we should be reporting more frequently than quarterly.

Vial said there could be a lag of up to about five months between a swing in inflation occurring and the Reserve Bank resetting interest rates after that was picked up in Stats NZ’s quarterly statistics.
That lag would be greatest if the swing began at the start of a quarter and there was long gap between Stats NZ reporting it and the Reserve Bank’s next scheduled OCR review.

The Government could stop wasting money in other areas and give some more money to Stats NZ so we get monthly inflation stats.