New Zealand budget announcements include:

  • A new temporary $27 a week payment for people who earned less than $70,000 last year in a $1 billion cost of living package.
  • Fuel tax cuts and half-price public transport extended for another two months to the end of August.

NZ inflation forecasts in the budget:

  • CPI is forecast to peak around 6.9 per cent in the middle of this year
  • easing to 5.2 per cent in 2023
  • and to below 3 per cent by 2026.