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(CEP News) Sydney - The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced that Australia's All Groups CPI rose 1.5% in the June quarter 2008, compared with a rise 1.3% in the March quarter, resulting in a total rise of 4.5% through the year to the June quarter 2008. The ABS notes that excluding the period associated with the introduction of the Goods & Services Tax, this is the largest annual change since the December quarter 1995. The Reserve Bank of Australia's Consumer Price Measures recorded a trimmed mean of 1.2 percentage change, with a weighted median of 1.0% for the June quarter 2008.
According to the ABS, the most significant contributors to the increase in the All Groups CPI this quarter were automotive fuel (+8.7%), hospital and medical services (+4.0%), house purchases (+1.0%), furniture (+3.1%), rents (+2.2%), deposit and loan facilities (+9.5%), and spirits (+6.1%). The most significant offsetting price decreases were for other financial services (-2.9%), fruit (-7.4%), vegetables (-6.5%), domestic holiday and accommodation (-2.0%) and electricity (-1.4%). Within the non-tradables, the services component rose 1.7%, mainly due to deposit and loan facilities, rents, hospital and medical services, insurance and recreational activities. As with the last quarter, the only significant offset was provided by domestic holiday travel and accommodation along with other financial services. The non-tradable goods component rose 0.7%, mainly due to increases in house purchases and the take away food. The tradables component of the All Groups CPI rose 1.5% in the June quarter. The rise in this component was mainly driven by the increases in automotive fuel. The most significant offsetting falls were in fruit and vegetables. Over the twelve months to the June quarter, non-tradables rose 5.6% and tradables rose 2.9%. This compares with rises of 5.0% and 3.3% respectively for these components through the year to the March quarter 2008. At the All Groups level, the CPI rose in all Australian capital cities this quarter, with increases ranging from 3.5% in Hobart Tasmania, to 5.1% in Brisbane Queensland. The higher result in Brisbane is attributed to stronger than average contributions from housing, transport, clothing and footwear. By Tim Stackpool. (
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