Ahead of tonight's NZ CPI release at....>

NEW ZEALAND: Ahead of tonight's NZ CPI release at 2245GMT, analysts at ANZ

expect headline inflation to rise 0.4% q/q in the 2018 March quarter. This would

see annual inflation dip to 1.0%, slightly below the RBNZ's February MPS

forecast of 0.6% q/q and 1.1% y/y. However, ANZ note there are a number of

temporary factors at play including policy changes and base effects.

- Westpac expect a 0.5% rise in consumer prices for the March quarter, barring

any major surprise in March food prices (released on Monday). This would bring

annual inflation down from 1.6% to 1.1%, the lowest since September 2016. There

are two factors behind the drop in annual inflation. The first is the

introduction of a years' free tertiary education, which we estimate will take

0.2% off the CPI. The second is base effects: a surge in oil prices a year ago

saw annual inflation rise to 2.2% in March 2017, before dropping back to 1.7% in

June.