Australian CPI misses high

The Australian Consumer Price Index for the March quarter is out and just added more spice to the May RBA meet by coming in above market expectations:

MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Dec Qtr 2014 to Mar Qtr 2015	Mar Qtr 2014 to Mar Qtr 2015
Weighted average of eight capital cities		% change	% change

All groups CPI		0.2	1.3
Food and non-alcoholic beverages		0.2	1.9
Alcohol and tobacco		0.8	5.2
Clothing and footwear		-1.3	-0.7
Housing		0.8	2.7
Furnishings, household equipment and services		-0.5	1.5
Health		2.5	4.4
Transport		-3.4	-6.2
Communication		-1.4	-4.5
Recreation and culture		0.7	2.0
Education		5.3	5.4
Insurance and financial services		0.2	1.8
CPI analytical series
	All groups CPI, seasonally adjusted	0.3	1.3
	Trimmed mean	0.6	2.3
	Weighted median	0.6	2.4

All analytical a series are 1 point high than expectations. The dollar jumped but, really, there is nothing here to stop the RBA. More to come.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.