2024.01.1004:50:00UTC+00Australia Inflation Weakest Since Early 2022

Australia's consumer price inflation softened to the lowest in nearly two years in November, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index posted an annual increase of 4.3 percent in November, slower than the 4.9 percent rise in October. This was the slowest inflation since January 2022 and also below economists' forecast of 4.4 percent.

Excluding volatile items and holiday travel, underlying inflation moderated to 4.8 percent from 5.1 percent in October. The rate hit the lowest since March 2022.

The most significant contributors to the November annual increase were housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages, insurance and financial services and alcohol and tobacco.

Housing cost advanced at a faster pace of 6.6 percent and prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages gained 4.6 percent. Cost of insurance and financial services grew 8.8 percent and alcohol and tobacco prices moved up 6.4 percent.

At the same time, automotive fuel prices rose only 2.3 percent. On a monthly basis, auto fuel prices fell 0.5 percent as crude oil prices continued to soften, reaching a five-month low.

"With price pressures cooling in earnest, we're growing increasingly confident in our call that the RBA will start to cut rates as early as May", Capital Economics' economist Abhijit Surya said.