Australia will finally gain a complete monthly insight into inflation from November 26, as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) begins publishing a fully-formed monthly CPI report, bringing the country in line with nearly all OECD nations.
This marks the beginning of a phased wind-down of the quarterly CPI, which has guided the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) since the early 1990s.
The lack of full monthly data has contributed to uncertainty in recent rate decisions. For example, May’s (2025) monthly CPI showed inflation at 2.1%, well within the RBA’s 2–3% target, while the March (2025) quarterly CPI showed 2.4%, suggesting more persistent inflation. This discrepancy was a factor in the RBA’s surprise decision to keep rates on hold at 3.85%.
Until now, the monthly CPI has only partially captured price movements, with just 43 of 87 expenditure categories reviewed monthly. With new funding, the ABS will now collect monthly data on all 87 classes. The full monthly report has been in testing since April 2024.
RBA Governor Michele Bullock has cautioned against over-reliance on the current monthly data, calling it “too volatile” to reflect underlying inflation trends accurately. The quarterly CPI will continue for at least 18 months as the RBA still requires it, partly due to limitations in seasonally adjusting many short-term monthly series.
Info comes via local media reports here in Australia.
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This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.
