³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾

The monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator rose 6.8 per cent in the year to April 2023, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

This month’s annual increase of 6.8 per cent is higher than the 6.3 per cent annual rise reported in March 2023, but is below the high of 8.4 per cent recorded in December 2022.

Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said: “It’s important to note that a significant contributor to the increase in the annual movement in April was automotive fuel. The halving of the in April 2022, which was fully unwound in October 2022, is impacting the annual movement for April 2023.”

CPI inflation is often impacted by items with volatile price change such as automotive fuel, fruit and vegetables and holiday travel. “It can be helpful to exclude items with volatile price changes from the headline CPI to provide a view of underlying inflation,” Ms Marquardt said. “When excluding these volatile items, the annual movement of the monthly CPI indicator was 6.5 per cent in April, lower than 6.9 per cent recorded in March.”

The most significant contributors to the annual increase in the monthly CPI indicator in April were Housing (+8.9 per cent), Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+7.9 per cent), Transport (+7.1 per cent) and Recreation and culture (+6.4 per cent).

The annual increase for the Housing group in April of 8.9 per cent was lower than the increase in March of 9.5 per cent. “Within the Housing group, New dwelling prices rose 9.2 per cent, which is the lowest annual growth since February 2022 as building material prices continue to ease,” Ms Marquardt said. “Rent prices rose further from an annual rise of 5.3 per cent in March to 6.1 per cent in April as the rental market remains tight.”

Price rises for Food and non-alcoholic beverages remain high but have eased slightly from an annual increase of 8.1 per cent in March to 7.9 per cent in April. Food products (not elsewhere classified) (+11.7 per cent) was the main contributor to the annual increase, followed by Bread and cereal products (+11.4 per cent) and Dairy and related products (+14.5 per cent).

The annual movement for Transport rose to 7.1 per cent off the back of higher petrol prices compared to April last year. “Automotive fuel prices were 9.5 per cent higher this month than they were in April 2022 when prices fell following the 22 cents per litre cut in the fuel excise introduced on 30 March 2022. This contrasts to March 2023, which saw an annual fall in fuel prices of 8.2 per cent, compared to the high prices recorded in March 2022 related to the war in Ukraine.” Ms Marquardt said.