“Six months ago, we were estimated to be supporting about 450,000 people on a monthly basis who are struggling to put adequate nutritious food on the table, and that’s now ticked up to around 600,000,” says Findlay.
“It’s extraordinary that one in eight Kiwis are struggling at some point in the month. I don’t see that changing any time soon.”
Given the sharp increase in demand, The New Zealand Food Network is currently running a campaign that aims to fill Eden Park with 100,000 meals to help those in need. Findlay encourages members of the community to donate to make this a reality.
While some analysts have been pleased to see inflation track downwards, the consumer price index (CPI) was still up 1.8 per cent in the September quarter, for an annual rate of 5.6 per cent. Every percentage increase places a little more pressure on the families struggling the most.
“It’s almost exponential, because if a family is working from week to week to week and budgeting down to the last $10, a very small shift in costs can actually make a big difference,” says Findlay.
“While inflation is coming down, food prices are still slightly higher. It is coming off the boil year-on-year, but it’s all relative. It’s still much higher than it was a year ago.
The Reserve Bank has warned that in the fight against inflation, we would likely see an increase in unemployment – which will only add to the pressure on these families.
“It’s not just necessarily job losses, but it’s numbers of hours as well. If you have five hours less work a week because there’s slightly less demand for your product in the marketplace, that can be $150 out of someone’s pocket.
“Because the margins are so tight at many families… it means the challenge of putting food on your table for your family is extraordinary.”
Families with mortgages also face ongoing pressure, with little indication of when those high interest rates will come back down.
NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenée Tibshraeny says it remains unclear when inflation or interest rates will settle to normal levels.
“I’m not convinced that normal looks like what it did before Covid,” she says.
“Economists think the new normal could mean interest rates have to be slightly higher than before. Interest rates might settle at a level above what they were before Covid because some of the drivers in the economy are potentially inflationary.”
Climate change, volatile international relations and global uncertainty are all factors that could play a role in keeping inflation higher in the coming year. So what relief is the new Government offering? When can we expect to see this relief, and will this actually have the desired impact of keeping inflation down?
Listen to the full episode of The Front Page for answers to these questions.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
