The 6.9 percent increase follows an annual increase of 5.9 percent in the December 2021 quarter, the previous largest annual movement since the 7.6 percent increase in the June 1990 quarter, which occurred shortly after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989, Stats NZ said.
The Act came into effect in February 1990 to target the high inflation from the previous decade and maintain stability in the general level of prices over the medium term, it said.
The main driver for the 6.9 percent annual inflation to the March 2022 quarter was the housing and household utilities group, influenced by rising prices for construction and rentals for housing, statistics show.
Prices for the construction of new dwellings increased 18 percent in the March 2022 quarter compared with the March 2021 quarter, the largest increase recorded since the series began in 1985, Stats NZ said.
"Construction firms have been experiencing many supply-chain issues, higher labor costs, and also higher demand, which have pushed up the cost of building a new house," senior prices manager Aaron Beck said in a statement.
The next largest contributor to the annual inflation was the transport group, influenced by higher prices for petrol and second-hand cars.
Petrol prices increased 32 percent in the year to the March 2022 quarter, the largest annual increase since the June 1985 quarter, statistics show.
Inflation rates around the world are currently higher than in recent years, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) total at 7.7 percent for the year ended February 2022, the United States at 8.5 percent, and Britain at seven percent to the year ended March 2022, Beck said.
"These are challenging times for the global economy with significant increases in food and fuel prices hitting all nations...New Zealand cannot be immune to these challenges and the government can't control the price of food or petrol," Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a statement.
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