Australia monthly CPI was unchanged at 3.4% yoy in January, below expectation of a rise to 3.6% yoy. CPI excluding volatile items and holiday travel slowed from 4.2% yoy to 4.1% yoy. Trimmed mean CPI also slowed from 4.0% yoy to 3.8% yoy.
The detailed breakdown reveals that the main inflationary pressures came from specific sectors: Housing costs rose by 4.6%, food and non-alcoholic beverages by 4.4%, alcohol and tobacco by a significant 6.7%, and insurance and financial services saw the highest increase at 8.2%.
These increases were somewhat mitigated by a decrease in the recreation and culture sector, notably a -1.7% drop, primarily driven by a -7.1% fall in Holiday travel and accommodation, which provided a counterbalance to the overall annual inflation rate.
