Some good news on inflation, well kind of.
Price increases across the economy have dropped to 4.3 per cent, lower than markets had expected, although housing, food and insurance costs continued to climb.
From the article:
Inflation in the 12 months to November fell to 4.3 per cent from 4.9 per cent in October, a better than expected result ahead of the Reserve Bank’s first interest rate decision next month.
One of the largest contributors to the fall in the inflation rate
was automotive fuel prices which dropped 0.5 per cent in November as crude oil prices reached a five-month low. Over the 12 months to November, fuel prices rose 2.3 per cent, lower than the annual increase of 8.6 per cent in October.
The most significant contributors to the annual price increase were housing (up 6.6 per cent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (up 4.6 per cent), insurance and financial services (up 8.8 per cent) and alcohol and tobacco (up 6.5 per cent).
Taking out volatile items such as petrol, holiday travel, fruit and vegetables, underlying inflation was 4.8 per cent in November, lower than the 5.1 per cent figure in October.
One of the biggest factors in inflation – rents – rose from an annual rate of 6.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent
reflecting low vacancy rates and a tight rental market. In monthly terms, rent prices rose by 0.7 per cent after a 0.4 per cent decrease in October.
The bureau’s head of prices statistics, Michelle Marquardt, said without the increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance, introduced in September, rents would have increased 8.8 per cent over the year.