Australia’s CPI edges up 2.7 YoY in August ’24

Australia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 2.7 per cent year-on-year in August 2024, down from 3.5 per cent in July, an official report showed on Wednesday. This marks the lowest inflation rate since August 2021.

The main contributors to the annual movement at the group level were housing (+2.6 per cent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.4 per cent), and alcohol and tobacco (+6.6%). However, transport (-1.1 per cent) partially offset these increases.

Significant factors moderating annual inflation in August were the declines in Automotive fuel and electricity prices. Automotive fuel prices were 7.6 per cent lower compared to August 2023 due to recent price drops.

Electricity prices saw a record annual decrease of 17.9 per cent driven by rebates from the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund and State Government rebates in Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania.

In August, CPI inflation, excluding volatile items and holiday travel, decreased to 3.0 per cent from 3.7 per cent in July.

The annual Trimmed mean inflation, excluding automotive fuel and electricity price changes, was 3.4 per cent in August, down from 3.8 per cent in July.

According to Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, both measures of annual underlying inflation in August are at their lowest levels in 2.5 years.

Attribution: Australian Bureau of Statistics report

Subediting: M. S. Salama