WELLINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - New Zealand's near-term inflation is expected to rise in the fourth quarter, a central bank survey showed on Thursday, as the country battles labour and goods shortages from closed borders in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand's quarterly survey of expectations showed business managers expected annual inflation to average 3.70% over the coming year, the highest forecast in 11 years, versus 3.02% in the previous survey in August.
The one-year ahead inflation figure was 3.85% in Sept. 2010 when headline inflation sat at 5.3%, boosted by an increase in goods and service tax.
Two-year inflation expectations - seen as the time frame when RBNZ policy action will filter through to prices - is seen rising to 2.96% from a previous prediction of 2.27%.
The New Zealand dollar gained 0.24% to $0.7015 after the survey.
Businesses expect the official cash rate (OCR) to continue rising over the course of the next two years, while the surge in house prices is tipped to slow over the next two years, RBNZ's October survey also showed.
The central bank early last month hiked interest rates for the first time in seven years and signalled further tightening, as it looked to get on top of inflationary pressures and cool a red-hot housing market.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
