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Photo: 123RF What happens when the price at the supermarket checkout keeps rising but your budget does not? In our latest installment of Checkpoint's new series Crunching the Numbers, we are drilling into the detail of the weekly shop from Countdown and PAK'n SAVE to see how much it has gone up since 2022. It is no secret Kiwis are feeling the pinch, so RNZ asked shoppers how much the weekly shop was setting them back. One woman said for a household of four it cost them $200. Another shopper said for their household of four with three teenagers it cost $500. A single pensioner said he usually paid $100 a week. For over two years, Checkpoint has been tracking the price of 36 supermarket items in the same area. Our first shop in May 2022 at Greenlane Countdown cost us $238 dollars and th...

There's a brighter future for many as the economic clouds over New Zealand are starting to lift, Kiwibank's latest report says. Photo: Pablo Heimplatz / Unsplash Most of the country is starting to recover economically, even if it doesn't feel like it, Kiwibank says. It has released its latest annual regional report, which it described as "tentatively optimistic" about what lies ahead for the country's economy. Every region increased its economic score compared to last year - with the exception of Wellington - although the highest score remains only five out of 10, recorded in Southland. "We're not shooting the lights out by any stretch of the imagination," said Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. "What we're really feeling is that things are slightly better than last year but still at...