Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Responsibility for the Consumers Price Index (CPI) is shared across different areas of Government depending on what aspect the member is referring to. For example, responsibility for keeping the CPI at a reasonable level over the medium term is part of the mandate of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). The RBNZ has operational independence in the way they perform their role; however, I would note that they have tended to put more weight on measures of core inflation rather than risk over-reacting to transitory factors that might not be a good indication of the state of the domestic economy. However, if the member is asking whether Government decisions have led to recent increases in inflation, I would point out to the member that commodity price increases and global supply disruptions are affecting all economies around the world. This is evidenced by the August 2021 inflation across the OECD being at an annual rate of 4.3 percent.