Australia's consumer price index rises 5.6% in May 2023: ABS

The monthly CPI excluding volatile items and travel costs saw an annual increase of 6.4 per cent in May 2023, slightly down from 6.5 per cent in the previous month, as per ABS.

Specific sectors showed varied trends, with the clothing and footwear category witnessing a decrease. The consumer price index for this sector dropped by 0.4 per cent in the 12 months leading to May 2023.

Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said: "This month’s annual increase of 5.6 per cent is the smallest increase since April last year. While prices have kept rising for most goods, many increases were smaller than we have seen in recent months.

"It can be helpful to exclude items with volatile price changes from the headline CPI indicator to provide a view of underlying inflation. When excluding these volatile items, the decline in inflation is more modest.”

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DP)