New Zealand fails to evade deflationary territory

© FP

The cost of production inputs along with wholesale prices took a further hit in New Zealand, as Q1 data showed a 1.0% plunge in the Producer Price Index for inputs, which is slightly better than the 1.2% drop over the previous quarter. The news left analysts disappointed as they had anticipated a 0.3% gain in the measure. The Output PPI dipped 0.2%, recovering from the 0.8% decrease over the previous quarter, but still falling short of analyst expectations.