consumer price index rises 1.2pc

April 23, 2008
AUSTRALIA's trimmed mean consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.2 per cent in the March quarter, for an annual growth rate of 4.1 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said today.

The weighted median CPI rose 1.3 per cent in the March quarter, with an annual rise of 4.5 per cent.

Market economists had expected the average of the two measures to rise by 0.9 per cent in the March quarter for an annual rate of 3.8 per cent.

The headline CPI rose 1.3 per cent in the March quarter, for an annual rate of 4.2 per cent.

The median market forecast was for a rise of 1.1 per cent in the March quarter and an annual pace of 4.0 per cent.

The ABS calculates the trimmed mean and weighted median measures on behalf of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which uses them to gauge the underlying trend in inflation.

Unlike the headline CPI, the RBA's underlying measures are subject to revision due to the seasonal adjustment of some of their components.