Australian inflation rises to 3.8 pct

CANBERRA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Australia's annual rate of inflation increased to 3.8 percent in October on the back of rising housing costs, according to official data released on Wednesday.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said that the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.8 percent in the 12 months to the end of October, up from 3.6 percent in the year to September.

It said that a 5.9 percent increase in housing costs was the biggest driver of inflation in the year to October, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverage prices and recreation and culture prices, both of which rose by 3.2 percent.

The annual trimmed mean, a measure of underlying inflation, rose from 3.2 percent in September to 3.3 percent in October.

Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), in August projected that headline inflation would not exceed 3.1 percent on an annual basis through the end of 2027 and that annual trimmed mean inflation would remain at or below 2.6 percent.

The release of the October data on Wednesday marked the first publication of the new "complete" monthly CPI from the ABS.

The ABS previously published complete CPI data on a quarterly basis, while its monthly CPI indicator measured a narrower range of expenses and was less comprehensive.

The Australian Statistician, David Gruen, said on Tuesday that the new complete monthly data would enable earlier detection of shifts in inflation and provide better information for policy decisions.