Australian inflation rises to 12-month high of 2.8 pc

SYDNEY: Australia's annual rate of inflation hit a 12-month high of 2.8% in July, according to official data published on Wednesday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said that the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2.8%in the 12 months to the end of July 2025, up from 1.9% in the year to June.

It marks Australia's highest rate of annual inflation since the 12-month period to July 2024, when the CPI rose by 3.5%.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that economists had expected the CPI to rise by about 2.3%in the year to July.

The annual trimmed mean, a measure of underlying inflation, also rose from 2.1%in June to 2.7%in July.

According to the ABS, the biggest drivers of CPI growth in the year to July were a 3.6% rise in housing costs, a 3.0% rise in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, and alcohol and tobacco prices, which rose by 6.5%.

Coffee, tea and cocoa prices were 14.4% higher in July than 12 months earlier.

"This comes as supply has been affected by adverse weather conditions impacting major overseas coffee bean-growing areas," Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said in a statement.

The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank, said in forecasts released earlier in August that it expected headline inflation to increase over the second half of 2025 before stabilising at around 3% through most of 2026.

By RSS/Xinhua