The ABS released the latest monthly CPI data today, and it reports that Inflation is still sticky in Australia, and accelerated faster than expected for a third straight month in May, sending the currency higher as traders boosted bets that the Reserve Bank will resume raising interest rates at its next meeting. The report comes after RBA Governor Michele Bullock restated last week that the rate-setting board isn’t ruling out a rate hike after leaving the benchmark at a 12-year high of 4.35%.
Wednesday’s figures suggest inflation is running ahead of the RBA’s forecast for underlying inflation to ease to 3.8 per cent in the June quarter. That said, the monthly numbers are at best partial, compared with the more complete quarterly data which provides a fuller picture of inflation.
In truth, for many households real inflation is much higher than the statistics suggest, with continued massive lifts in insurance costs for example, but Warren Hogan may end up being right, with further rate hikes a clear threat if the Q2 quarterly inflation print confirms the uptrend.
This is a mess, created by taking rates too low in the first place, saying they would stay low into 2024, then not returning them to normal rates soon enough, meantime luring many into property are extended prices and big loans. The route out of the years of policy failure will be difficult for many, though somehow policy makers and politicians seem to be able to find someone else to blame. How about some real accountability?
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