Australia’s inflation rate fell to 3.4% in the 12 months to November from 3.8% a month earlier as housing and electricity costs increases moderated, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Trimmed mean inflation, which measures the underlying increase in consumer prices, eased to 3.2% from 3.3% but remained above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred 2-3% band over the medium term, the ABS said in a media release.
The November rate was below financial market economists’ average forecasts of 3.6%.
ABS Head of Prices Statistics Michelle Marquardt said the largest contributor to annual inflation in November was housing, which rose 5.2% over the 12 month period, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.3%) and transport (2.7%).
Housing had risen 5.9% in the 12 months ended October.
Annual goods inflation dropped to 3.3% from 3.8%, mostly due to the rise in electricity prices plunging to 19.7% from 37.1%, while annual services inflation eased to 3.6% from 3.9% as result of a drop in demand for domestic travel as school holidays ended.
If Commonwealth and State Government electricity rebates were excluded, electricity prices rose 4.6% in the year ending November compared to 5.0% in the year to end October.
In the month of November, the consumer price index (CPI) was in original terms and rose 0.2% in seasonally adjusted terms.
In November Australia’s primary measure of headline inflation transitioned from the quarterly CPI to a complete monthly measure of the CPI to allow earlier detection of shifts in inflation and provide better information for policy decisions.
