To stress, that's a number that removes the distorting boost to inflation from the floods at the start of the year - and especially the banana prices that a desperate treasurer was grasping at yesterday.
Ok I'm confused. Swan is not telling porkies if you're to believe the abs release:
The most significant price rises this quarter were for fruit (+26.9%), automotive fuel (+4.0%), hospital and medical services (+3.4%), furniture (+6.0%), deposit and loan facilities (+2.1%) and rents (+1.1%). The most significant offsetting price falls were for vegetables (-10.3%), audio, visual and computing equipment (-6.3%), electricity (-1.5%), domestic holiday travel and accommodation (-1.5%), milk (-4.6%) and toiletries and personal care products (-2.3%).
So where is McCrann coming from, unless I'm reading the figures wrong his comment is nonsense. I'm aware there was some food inflation in the last CPI reading, but that has persisted into this quarterly. Note the March CPI reading
The most significant price rises this quarter were for automotive fuel (+8.8%), vegetables (+16.0%), deposit and loan facilities (+4.6%), fruit (+14.5%) and pharmaceuticals (+12.5%). The most significant offsetting price falls were for furniture (-6.2%), audio, visual and computing equipment (-7.2%), milk (-6.2%), overseas holiday travel and accommodation (-1.6%) and motor vehicles (-0.5%).
So from what I understand, fruit inflation has not only persisted but increased - the distorting boost in fruit has not been removed at all (vegetables yes, but not enough to outweight fruit).
Have I missed something, or is McCrann wrong about this claim?
