Consumer Price Index data was released this week which showed a sharp rise in inflation during the March quarter, some of this due to the floods and inclement weather during the quarter, some not. The RBA targets long-term inflation of between 2% and 3% on an annual basis. The all groups inflation indicator increased by 1.6% during the quarter, well above the market expectation and taking annual headline inflation to 3.3%. Importantly, the RBA’s preferred measures (weighted median and trimmed mean) increased by a much lower 0.8% and 0.9% respectively during the quarter. On an annual basis these two measures of underlying or ‘core’ inflation remain well within the RBA’s target range at 2.2% and 2.3% respectively.
Source RP Data
source (rpdata)
[read more]