Australian Inflation Hits 3.6% in April, Exceeding Expectations

Australia's annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 3.6% in April, surpassing market expectations of 3.4%, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This marks a slight increase from 3.5% in March and represents the second consecutive month of rising inflation. The primary contributors to the inflation were housing, which saw a 4.9% increase, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages at 3.8%, and alcohol and tobacco at 6.5%. Transport costs also saw a notable rise.

Core inflation, measured by the trimmed mean CPI, increased to 4.1% from 4.0% in the previous month. Despite the rise in inflation, the Australian Dollar remained relatively stable. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is monitoring inflation risks closely, with concerns that further rate hikes might be necessary to bring inflation within its target range of 2% to 3%. This comes amidst mixed economic data, including a slowdown in construction work done in Q1, which showed a 2.9% decrease, falling short of expectations.