CANBERRA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia's annual rate of inflation fell to 3.4 percent in the year to November 2025, according to official data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS said that the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.4 percent in the 12 months to November, down from 3.8 percent in the year to October.
The annual trimmed mean, a measure of underlying inflation preferred by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), fell from 3.3 percent in October to 3.2 percent in November.
The November CPI growth was lower than forecast by economists, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported, but remained above the RBA's 2-3 percent target band.
The ABS identified housing as the biggest driver of inflation in the year to November, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport.
The RBA said in projections released in November 2025 that it expects the CPI growth to remain above 3 percent for much of 2026, before returning to be a little above the midpoint of the target band by late 2027. The underlying inflation is expected to be above the target band until the second half of 2026.
The RBA's Monetary Policy Board will meet in February to set the cash rate target, which has been on hold at 3.60 percent since August 2025. ■