STORY: Australian inflation rate slows to 3.6 pct
SHOOTING TIME: April 26, 2024
DATELINE: April 28, 2024
LENGTH: 0:02:07
LOCATION: Canberra
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a supermarket
2. various of street views in Australia

STORYLINE:

Australia's annual rate of inflation has fallen to 3.6 percent, according to official figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday.
   
The figure showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1.0 percent in the first three months of 2024 and 3.6 percent in the 12 months to the end of March.
   
It marks a fall from a 4.1 percent rise in the CPI in the 12-month period to the end of December 2023.
   
The ABS identified rising costs of education, health, housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages as the most significant drivers of inflation in the first quarter of 2024.
   
Housing prices were 0.7 percent higher at the end of March than at the start of 2024 and 4.9 percent higher than 12 months earlier.
   
Education costs rose 5.9 percent in the three-month period and health costs by 2.8 percent.
   
Meat and seafood prices fell by 0.7 percent in the same period but the costs of non-alcoholic beverages and fruit and vegetables rose.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Canberra.
(XHTV)