Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grant Robertson says the Government expects inflation to start trending down from this quarter onwards, but he acknowledged it "won't be a quick drop".
It comes as the New Zealand dollar struggles at new lows compared to other currencies, including the US dollar.
"I think it's been a really hard 2022 for most New Zealanders and that includes the business community," Robertson told Breakfast this morning. "Two years of Covid, followed on by this global inflation crisis and the cost of living pressures and all of that, I think as a country we've done pretty well.
"I think we're as well positioned as any other country in the world is for the global environment that we're facing but I understand that businesses have had a tough time and we'll keep working with them."
He said the Government is working to speed up the process of issuing working visas, to help ease the pressure in that area, and that there is "every reason to be optimistic" the economic tide will turn and the cost of living will fall despite times being tough recently.
"The consensus among most economists is that inflation will start to come down in New Zealand ... but it won't be a quick drop back down to the levels of inflation that people have been used to seeing," Robertson said.
"The global economy is a tough place to be at the moment, there are still issues coming out of Europe obviously with the war in Ukraine, issues in China, so this is a difficult period but we are looking to see inflation start to trend down from this quarter onwards.
"I'm not going to pretend for a moment that it isn't going to be tough in the global economy over the next year or so but I think New Zealand is as well positioned as anyone to deal with that."
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