Australia floods to push up prices
AUSTRALIA: Australian inflation moderated to its lowest level in a
decade, data showed Tuesday, but Treasurer Wayne Swan said prices would
surge as record flooding squeezes consumers at the checkout.
The Consumer Price Index grew 0.4 percent in October-December
compared with the previous quarter and 2.7 percent compared with a year
earlier - both figures much lower than the 0.7 percent and 3.0 expected
by economists.
Swan said underlying inflation - now at 2.2 percent - was at its
lowest in 10 years, with weather-related price hikes in fruit and
vegetables offset by the country's ailing retail sector.
But the Treasurer warned that ruinous flooding across vast parts of
Queensland and Victoria states - key farming regions - would cause
prices to jump.
"Despite the fact that these figures are lower than anticipated we do
know that the next quarter figure, the March quarter, will see a spike,
particularly in vegetable and fruit prices," Swan told reporters.
"The impact of these disastrous floods in Queensland through January
will be felt by Australian families at the checkout."
Swan said fruit and vegetables, among chief inflationary pressures in
the December quarter, had already appreciated due to the bad weather
which preceded the deluge, but he flagged a major price spike, with
crops such as beetroot and sweet potato decimated. Sydney, Tuesday, AFP
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