Consumer prices in New Zealand were down 0.3 percent on quarter in the first quarter of 2015, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday.
That missed forecasts for a decline of 0.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous three months.
The last time the CPI showed two consecutive quarterly falls was in the December 1998 and March 1999 quarters, the bureau said.
On a yearly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.1 percent – also missing expectations for a gain of 0.2 percent, and down sharply from the 0.8 increase in Q4.
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