Australia’s cost of living crisis worsens with inflation hitting a new 32-year high

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Australia’s cost-of-living crisis WORSENS with inflation hitting a new 32-year high, making another interest rate hike in a few weeks all but a certainty

  • Australian inflation has hit a new 32-year high of 7.8 percent
  • Highest Consumer Price Index since the March 1990 quarter

Australia’s cost of living crisis has worsened with inflation hitting a new 32-year high of 7.8 percent.

The consumer price index for the year to December increased at the fastest annual rate since the March 1990 quarter.

This means that another interest rate hike on February 7 is almost a certainty with headline inflation well above the Reserve Bank’s 2% to 3% target.

Australia’s cost-of-living crisis has worsened with inflation hitting a new 32-year high (a Woolworths shopper in Sydney’s eastern suburbs pictured)

However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figure was slightly less severe than the Reserve Bank’s forecast of 8 per cent.

The CPI had risen 7.3 percent in the September quarter.

Inflation figures for the December quarter showed housing costs rose 10.7 percent last year, compared with a 9.2 percent rise in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices.

A more detailed breakdown of grocery items showed a 12.2 percent annual increase in bread and cereal prices and an even more severe 14.9 percent increase in dairy prices.