This week the Consumer Price Index (CPI), New Zealand’s principal measure of inflation, hit 4.9%. Outside of when oil briefly exceeded US$140/bbl in 2008 and the impact of GST hikes in 2010, you’d have to go back to the late 1980s to see headline inflation at higher levels. New Zealand isn’t the only country facing heightened inflation pressures, but we are near the front of the pack. Economically, we are a small open nation, which, prior to COVID, had largely relied on migration to drive economic growth. While shut borders and supply chain disruptions are impacting countries everywhere, the impact here has been even more pronounced.