Australian inflation accelerated, snapping three months of easing, sending government bond yields higher as traders fretted about potentially another interest-rate increase next week.
The consumer price indicator advanced 6.8% from a year earlier, up from 6.3% in March and faster than economists’ forecast of a 6.4% increase, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed Wednesday. The result was impacted by the end of a temporary government fuel subsidy, the ABS said.
The bureau highlighted that after excluding volatile items, underlying inflation was 6.5% in April, easing from 6.9% in March.
Doubts over the Reserve Bank’s position ahead of Tuesday’s policy meeting sent the interest-rate sensitive three-year government bond yield to 3.403% from 3.363% prior to the release.
The report complicates RBA Governor Philip Lowe’s task as the board assesses the economy’s outlook following 11 rate hikes since May 2022. With the cash rate now at 3.85%, consumer spending is slowing, employment is showing signs of easing and business surveys are pointing to weaker conditions.
The result will disappoint Lowe who is trying to beat back inflation while delivering a soft landing for the economy. The RBA has raised rates by 3.75 percentage points over the past year to try to bring consumer-price growth to its 2-3% target.
Policy makers and economists have urged caution in reading too much into the monthly inflation figures as not all items in the CPI basket are updated, meaning it has some deficiencies relative to the longstanding quarterly gauge.
Another reason for caution is that the drivers of inflation have shifted, with price pressures switching to services, from goods, driven by an acceleration in rents and utility prices.
