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New monthly data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the consumer price index was 2.1 per cent for October – the same as in September – and lower than economists had expected.
The figure was down from 2.7% in August and the lowest level since July 2021.
Once again, energy rebates and falling fuel prices helped keep headline inflation at the lower end of the RBA’s target range.
However, one of the key gauges of core inflation — the stripped-down average — actually rose slightly to 3.5 percent, still above the 2 percent to 3 percent target.
”Falls in electricity and fuel had a significant impact on the annual CPI this month,” said Michel Marquardt, head of price statistics at the ABS.
“When prices for some items move by large amounts, measures of core inflation such as the consumer price index, which excludes volatile items and holiday travel, and the trimmed average can provide additional insight into the trend in inflation.”
“Annually discounted average inflation was 3.5 percent, up from 3.2 percent in the previous month and similar to what it was in August.”
However, another measure of core inflation fell again.
“The consumer price index, excluding non-durable items and holiday travel, was 2.4% in the 12 months to October, down from 2.7% in September,” Marquardt said.
With the declining average rising to its highest level since July, today’s inflation data is highly unlikely to prompt the Central Bank to cut interest rates at its final meeting of the year in two weeks’ time.
The RBA usually gives more weight to quarterly figures, the next installment of which is not due until the end of January.
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