ABS reports another significant rise in inflation

Australia’s inflation rate has gone up by 6.1% during the last 12 months. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its quarterly Consumer Price Index (CPI) update this morning.

The new figure signifies another significant rise in the cost of consumer goods. For the quarterly inflation figure up to the end of June, the ABS reported a rise of 1.8%.

The most significant price rises were on furniture (+7.0%), new dwelling purchases by owner-occupiers (+5.6%) and petrol (+4.2%).

In March the ABS reported a quarterly rise in the CPI of 2.1 percent reflecting an inflation increase over 12 months of 5.1%. In that report, the most significant price rise was on petrol that rose by 11.0%

The CPI is an ABS assessment of what Australians are spending most of their money based on calculating a household average for different goods. Items with the largest weighting include food, housing, utilities and health.

The ABS figures follow the release of yesterday’s World Economic Outlook Update from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Update reported a “gloomy” outlook for the global economy. “Inflation is a major concern, said the IMF’s chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas.