Australian underlying inflation falls to three-year low

CANBERRA, April 30 (Xinhua) — Australia’s underlying rate of inflation has fallen within the target band set by the nation’s central bank for the first time in three years.According to data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday, the annual rate of trimmed mean inflation — the measure of underlying inflation preferred by the Reserve Bank of Australia — was 2.9 percent in the year to the end of the March quarter.

It marks a fall from the 3.3 percent reported in the year to the end of the preceding quarter ending in December 2024 and the first time since December 2021 that underlying inflation in the 12-month period to the end of any quarter has fallen within the RBA’s 2-3 percent target band.The annual headline inflation rate remained steady at 2.



4 percent in the year to March, the ABS said.Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the government was “really pleased” with the data.“This is a powerful demonstration of the progress that Australians have made together in the economy,” he told reporters on the campaign trail for Saturday’s general election.

He described the figures as “proof” of the “responsible economic management” of the governing Labor Party.Australia’s annual headline rate of inflation hit a 32-year high of 7.8 percent in December 2022 — seven months after Labor won power in that year’s election.

The ABS said on Wednesday that rising housing, education and food and non-alcoholic beverage prices were the main drivers of inflation in the first three months of 2025.The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that, prior to the release of the March figures, markets were pricing in the “virtual certainty” of a 0.25 percentage point interest rate cut when the RBA’s Monetary Policy Board next meets on May 20.

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