Australia's Treasurer Emphasizes Core Inflation Drop Amid Election
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the market was justified to expect more interest rate cuts after annual core inflation slowed to a three-year low, highlighting the decline three days ahead of a closely-contested national election.
The key trimmed mean measure of annual inflation, the Reserve Bank of Australia's preferred gauge, slowed to 2.9% from 3.3%, March quarter data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.
The decline took inflation back into the central bank's 2% to 3% target band for the first time since late 2021. Headline annual inflation held steady at 2.4% and quarterly inflation rose 0.9%, just above forecasts of a 0.8% increase.
"The market has a very firm view that there are more interest rate cuts on the way. And I don't see anything in these numbers that would substantially alter their expectations," Chalmers told a media conference.
"Getting underlying inflation in the target band is a really big deal."
The market now expects four or five rate cuts by the end of the year, or a total easing of 117 basis points, including a quarter-point rate cut at the RBA's next policy meeting on May 20. Prior to the data release, the market had factored in five cuts or 123 basis points of easing.
Chalmers added he was "optimistic" about the state of the economy ahead of a general election on Saturday, with his centre-left Labor party campaigning on its responsible economic management.
He said that "we have got inflation down substantially, real wages up, kept unemployment low, got the debt down, interest rates coming down ... with everything that the world is throwing us."
"I think every Australian can be proud of the progress we've made together."
(Reporting by Christine Chen and Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sonali Paul)
