Food and fuel prices in the country have soared, official data shows.
Consumer prices in Australia jumped 7.3% annually, marking the highest since 1990 and almost three times the pace of wage growth, data by the bureau of statistics (ABS) showed on Wednesday.
The prices rose 1.8% in the last quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6%, driven by skyrocketing food and energy costs.
According to the report, gas and other household fuel costs soared almost 11% for the quarter. Food prices in the country were already climbing at an annual pace of 9.0%, with the third quarter seeing a surge of 3.2%. Annual inflation for essential goods and services leaped to 8.4% during July-September, the ABS said.
“Whether it’s food, whether it’s electricity, whether it’s rent, inflation is public enemy number one. Inflation is the dragon we need to slay,” the treasurer of Australia, Jim Chalmers, said, addressing the report.
There are also fears that recent flooding across eastern Australia will lift food prices even higher, with supermarket chain Coles already warning of declining volumes in fresh food.
According to economists, prices could spike even higher this quarter. “The upshot is that CPI [consumer price index] inflation will approach 8% in Q4,” senior economist at Capital Economics Marcel Thieliant told Reuters. “The stronger-than-expected rise in consumer prices is consistent with our forecast that the RBA [Reserve Bank of Australia] will hike rates more aggressively than most anticipate.”
The RBA has been increasing interest rates for six consecutive months in an effort to tame inflation. The regulator said this month it expects inflation in Australia this year to reach 7.75%, before dropping to just over 4% in 2023 and around 3% in 2024.
Lock people up for two years and interrupt the supply and demand cycle. Empty the country’s treasury into the pockets of a pharmaceutical company. Burn down a couple of processing plants. Open the odd dam to lower the water supply upstream and flood grainfields. Spend millions of dollars building quarantine camps. Make silly laws that stop perfectly healthy and fully qualified people from working because they refuse to be injected with poison – then work on getting all that mis-spent money back by inflating prices. Charge the population more for everything and lower their standard of living to get the balance sheets back in the black then call the financial damage which has been deliberately caused a ‘dragon’ – as though a fairy tale character caused the problem.
Unless interest rates are increased well above the inflation rate, the economy will go out of control in both NZ and Australia. A large correction is needed because cheap money, after quantitative easing, was pumped into the economy. Much of the new money ended up in speculative assets including unaffordable housing. Real growth cannot occur without productivity increase. Concentration of wealth spiralled during pandemic. All these need strong measures and planned correction. If matters are left to sort out without intervention, a bigger collapse and long term pain await.
You will own nothing…
A controlled demolition of the worlds economies, Climate change is the ring to rule them all then the hits began, Covid next, that destroyed small business and indebted nations to bankers, next the proxy war in Ukraine to starve the EU of energy, now they are going to force vaccinate your children with mRNA vaccines if you want them to go to school.
The Bolsheviks are back and the still hate you.
And voter idiots still vote for mainstream parties, who will go on catering to foreign globalist interests, over their own. Politician’s who support undermining human rights, locked down homes and destroyed business’s in the COVID scamdemic. A Ponzi scheme to designed to re-distribute global public money, to prop up the failing US empire, who has found it can no longer print its way to prosperity.
Expect more taxes, whilst fat Rolex wearing politician’s, talk about the need for austerity, from their waterfront mansions.