The election campaign will soon come to a close, but not before we learn more about the country's economy. 1News Business Correspondent Katie Bradford sets the scene for the week ahead as voters head to the polls.
It's been an uninspiring election at times. It's tough out there, whether you're in the "squeezed middle", or feeling the cost-of-living crunch because you can't find the cash for daycare bills, the doctor or, heaven forbid, the dentist.
Big ideas like introducing a wealth tax were quashed by Labour early on, and National became tangled in its own mathematical mess — otherwise known as its tax plan.
So the big promises turned into a few dollars saved at the supermarket with GST-free fruit and vegetables, or just 3000 families receiving National's much-vaunted $250 a fortnight. And it's all because of that dreaded word inflation.
As the country heads to the polls, a few pieces of data will be out on Thursday and Friday that will provide a glimpse of how inflation is tracking.
The big one is food prices.
The last annual increase was 8.9%, a fall from the highs of over 12%.
Electronic spending data, out on Friday, will also show if people are spending less as the squeeze from inflation tightens.
But aside from those, it's a wait-and-see. While many voters might be desperate to vote, or desperate for the election to be over, many other parts of the economy are on hold.
We saw it with the Reserve Bank keeping the official cash rate stable, last week, with the election being one factor in that decision.
Home buyers and sellers have been waiting to see who wins and what that will mean for the housing market, with the wide expectation that a National-led government will see the market pick up. The share market is likely to sit in a bit of a holding pattern too.
But for those desperate for some economic news, it'll come just two days after the election. Whoever forms a government — or is attempting to form one — will know how big the inflation beast they must fight is on Tuesday next week.
That's when the Consumer Price Index, our main measure of inflation, is released. It's likely to continue its trend down.
Not that that will matter for those who still can't afford the dentist.
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