Pedestrians at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, July 24, 2025. <\/p>\n
Brendon Thorne | Bloomberg | Getty Images <\/p>\n
Australia’s inflation accelerated in October, beating analysts’ estimates and rising at its fastest pace in seven months, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The consumer price index rose 3.8% in October, year on year, marking its fastest pace since April, according to the official release<\/a>. That was higher than economists’ forecast for a 3.6% rise in a Reuters poll. <\/p>\n This is the first time that the ABS has released the complete monthly CPI<\/a>, as the government transitions from the quarterly CPI to using the monthly gauge as the primary measure for headline inflation. <\/p>\n The largest contributor to consumer inflation was the housing sector that saw price growth of 5.9%, driven by higher costs in electricity, rents and new dwellings. Electricity costs surged 37.1% in October as households used up government rebates for power bills. <\/p>\n Prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, recreation and culture rose 3.2% from a year earlier. <\/p>\n The trimmed mean measure of underlying inflation that excludes volatile items came in at 3.3% in October, compared with 3.2% in the prior month, the official data showed. <\/p>\n On a monthly basis, the headline CPI was flat compared to September, versus analysts’ estimates for a 0.2% contraction. <\/p>\n Separately, a gauge on Australian business conditions picked up in October, rising to the highest level since March 2024<\/a>, according to a survey by National Australia Bank earlier this month, as companies reported better sales and profits.<\/p>\n