Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy on Thursday, January 22:
The Lead: PM Christopher Luxon announced the election would be held on November 7 yesterday, arguing his Government had cut inflation from 7% to 3% and therefore had taken pressure off mortgage rates for homeowners. But Government price hikes administered 160 basis points of the 2.2% inflation in the year to September 2024, and 80 basis points of the 3.0% inflation in the year to September 2025. Mortgage rates rose just before Christmas as a result.
The Sidebar: That Government-administered inflation spikes over the last two years now mean the Reserve Bank is expected to have to hike by 25 basis points on September 2, just as the election campaign begins, and by another 25 basis points on December 9, with a potential hike on October 28, ten days before the election. Hear and see more detail and analysis below and in the podcast above.
News elsewhere: Storms made worse by a record amount of climate-change-driven heating of our oceans battered the north and east coasts of the North Island over the last 72 hours, killing as many as three people, knocking out power to over 10,000 homes, closing some key roads for weeks and flooding hundreds out of their homes RNZ; Housing, Infrastructure and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop acknowledged he may lose some of his responsibilities in a Cabinet reshuffle expected shortly RNZ; and, US President Donald Trump said overnight he didn’t want to use military force to take Greenland, although he referred to Greenland four times as Iceland in a speech at Davos Reuters.
Scoop of the Day: Annemarie Quill reports this morning for Stuff on the case of a 44-year-old Tauranga man, Van Muollo, who was admitted to Tauranga Hospital ten days ago with sharp pains and diagnosed as needing gall bladder surgery the next day, but staff shortages meant he had to wait nine days for an operation without being able to eat.
Chart Pack of the Day: Seek reported this morning job ads on its platform fell for the first time in a year in the month of December, with the biggest fall in Auckland, in for jobs in retail and in hospitality. ANZ reported real retail sales through its cards fell in December, with clothing, catering and accommodation sales falling the most to offset rises in hospitality, food and consumer durable sales.
Today’s Deep-dive of the Day is by Kasey McDonnell for ThreeSixtySix News about: The trams that built Wellington.
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