Inflation has hit its highest level in three decades.
The consumer price index rose 1.8 percent in the three months ended March driven by fuel, food, and housing costs.
The annual inflation rate was 6.9 percent below expectations.
StatsNZ released its first-quarter Consumer Price Index (CPI) data this morning.
Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson spoke to First Up ahead of the release and said the government needed to focus on some of the underlying causes of price increases.
Food prices were 7.6 percent higher in March than the year before - the biggest annual increase in more than a decade.
Consumer prices rose 1.4 percent in the three months ended December, taking the annual rate to 5.9 percent.
Prior to that the highest rate was 7.6 percent in the June 1990 quarter.
The Reserve Bank stepped up its fight against inflation last week with a 50 basis point lift to the official cash rate - the fourth rise in a row, with a clear signal of more to come.
ANZ is expecting the Reserve Bank to lift the Official Cash Rate by another 50 points next month with more increases during this year.
Economists had been predicting about a 7 percent lift for the annual rate.