KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals double as New Zealanders struggle

New Zealanders are withdrawing money from their KiwiSaver schemes to help them through financial hardship at twice the rate of last year – and one supervisor says it’s largely because of rising interest rates.

Data from Inland Revenue shows that there was $21.5 million withdrawn from KiwiSaver accounts for reasons of financial hardship in October, up from $10.3m in October 2022.

That is compared to an increase from $77.7m to $104.7m million over the same period for first home withdrawals.