Inflation rose 1% in the June quarter, and rose 3.8% in the year, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This is the same level of rise seen in the March quarter.
The annual increase of 3.8% is 0.2 percentage points higher than the annual increase in March. This marks a reversal of inflation’s downward trend; this quarter saw the first increase in the annual inflation rate since December 2022. Adelaide’s inflation rate also rose 0.2 percentage points to now be 4.5% annually.
The ABS noted that the most significant contributors to price rises in the June quarter were housing and food and non-alcoholic beverages, up 1.1% and 1.2% respectively. High services inflation continues “to be impacted by higher prices for rents and insurance”.
This result is very similar to the expectations of the Reserve Bank whose next board meeting is early next week, where there is some pressure to hike rates. Though most economists expect rates to remain on hold as trimmed mean inflation which removes more volatile price fluctuations dropped from 4% to 3.9% in the last 12 months.
