Inflation exoneration
Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers may be able to claim victory on inflation sooner than expected.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers appear one step closer to winning the war on inflation and getting their sought after economic soft landing. And it could make all the difference for their federal election prospects.
Because while inflation still remains too far above the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2% to 3% target range, rate cut momentum is back in the air domestically and abroad after this week’s better-than-feared June quarter inflation data.
“What that shows is all of these [federal] policies are helping to take some of the edge off these cost‑of‑living pressures, and the combination of our surpluses and the design of our cost‑of‑living relief means that we are helping rather than hampering the fight against inflation,” Chalmers told ABC Radio National after the data was published.
By this he was referring to last year’s measures, which helped keep the headline inflation figure down. But the next quarterly read will arguably be more critical than those just released, as the most recent federal and state energy subsidies and the stage three tax cuts took effect after June.
