
Australian Bureau Of Statistics
CPI Rose 0.5 % In The December Quarter 2018
Victor P Taffa
Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5 % in the December quarter 2018, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures.
“Annual growth in the CPI remains below 2 % in the December quarter 2018, with annual growth in tradables inflation of just 0.6 %, while non-tradables inflation rose 2.4 %. Over the past 4 years, annual growth in the CPI has only risen above 2 % in 2 of the past 16 quarters.” ABS Chief Economist, Bruce Hockman said.
This follows a rise of 0.4 % in the September quarter.
Most significant rises in the December quarter are:
- Tobacco (+9.4 %),
- Domestic holiday travel and accommodation (+6.2 %),
- Fruit (+5.0 %),
- New dwellings purchased by owner-occupiers (+0.4 %),
- Furniture (+1.8 %).
Rise is partially offset by falls in:
- Automotive fuel (-2.5 %),
- Audio visual and computing equipment (-3.3 %),
- Wine (-1.9 %),
- Telecommunications equipment and services (-1.5 %).
While automotive fuel rose 3.3 % in October, falls in November and December of 10.8 % and 5.0 % respectively resulted in a decrease across the quarter of 2.5 %.
CPI rose 1.8 % through the year to the December quarter 2018, after increasing 1.9 % through the year to the September quarter.