Australia outlines new complete monthly CPI, in relief for policy makers
The new series, which starts on November 26, will be a huge relief to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which has long complained that the current quarterly CPI made it hard to know where inflation was heading in real time.
The central bank paused its rate cut cycle this month in large part to await the CPI report for the second quarter due on July 30. If that shows core inflation slowing as expected, markets fully assume the RBA will cut rates again in August.
"The transition to a complete, internationally comparable Monthly CPI as Australia's primary measure of headline inflation will provide better information for monetary and fiscal policy decisions that have a direct impact on all Australians," said Australian Statistician David Gruen.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics updated its website to include details of the new complete CPI, which will be released on the last Wednesday of every month following the reference month. The exception being the coming November report which will be out on January 7.
The new series will replace the current monthly CPI, which only covers some of the prices included in the quarterly release and tends to be volatile.
The new CPI and various measures of core inflation, including the closely watched trimmed mean, will go back to April 2024, the point when the ABS increased the frequency of price collection. Previously, only around half of the CPI basket of goods and services was collected monthly.
Mock data tables that illustrate the format, structure, and content of the files will be published in September.
The ABS will continue to produce a quarterly CPI data series for those needing quarterly figures for indexation, contract or other purposes.
The full ABS release can be found at: https://www.abs.gov.au/about/key-priorities/big-data-timely-insights-phase-2/complete-monthly-measure-cpi, opens new tab
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