As nation critically dependent on trade, New Zealand’s inflation rate over the past half century has been as much affected by world political and economic events as the vote-seeking policies of succession of finance ministers. In the early 1950s the rate was over 10 percent and about half that through most of the ’60s. It climbed steadily during the early 1970s, reaching dizzying 18 percent in 1976, dropped briefly, and peaked in oxygen mask territory again in 1980. The rate declined during Muldoon’s price and wage freeze in 1983/84 and then took off again in 1985. It began dropping in 1988 and it’s been downhill, with few bumps along the way, ever since. Although it has moved up since, New Zealand’s 1.5 percent inflation rate in the March 2004 year was enviably low by international standards.
Chris Slane, Auckland Star, 15 July 1988
From the NZ Cartoon Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, P O Box 12349, Wellington, Tel/fax 04-474 3154
The national collection of cartoons and caricatures
