Australia’s inflation rate has risen, fuelling fears the Reserve Bank will hike interests rates for the fifth time this year. Photograph: James Gourley/Getty ImagesAustralia’s inflation rate has risen, fuelling fears the Reserve Bank will hike interests rates for the fifth time this year. Photograph: James Gourley/Getty ImagesAustralia’s inflation rate rises to 4.3%, fuelling fears of fifth interest rate hike this yearCPI release comes ahead of Reserve Bank decision next week as the Middle East conflict intensifies the cost of living crisis
Australia’s headline inflation rate has accelerated to 4.3%, with a key gauge that strips out volatile prices also elevated, sharpening expectations of another interest rate rise next week.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred measure of consumer prices, called underlying inflation, came in at an annual 3.6% to September.
RBA officials have strongly indicated the board may need to lift borrowing costs further to drag price growth back toward its 2.5% target, citing concerns of a “materially worse” inflation outlook.
The CPI release comes shortly ahead of the central bank’s next monetary policy decision on 3 November, when most economists are tipping another cash rate increase.
The official rate, which informs lending rates including mortgages, already stands at 4.6%, its highest level in 15 years.
CPI figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday show that costs for everyday goods and services are rising at the same time as unemployment lifts, making life uncomfortable for households.
The dynamic also feeds into the growing political unease in Australia and elsewhere, as voters express their discontent with cost of living pressures.
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