STORY: Australian inflation falls to 3-year low
SHOOTING TIME: Sept. 26, 2024
DATELINE: Sept. 28, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:17
LOCATION: Canberra
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a supermarket
2. various of banks

STORYLINE:

Australia's annual inflation rate has fallen to its lowest level in three years.

Official data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday revealed that the consumer price index (CPI), the headline measure of inflation in Australia, rose by 2.7 percent in the 12 months to August.

It marks a fall from 3.5 percent in the 12 months to July and the lowest annual CPI rise since August 2021.

"It's a very heartening result that shows our policies are helping, but we're not complacent because we know people are still under pressure," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement posted on social media responding to the data.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the August figures were in line with economists' expectations.

The figures were released one day after the central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, kept the official interest rate on hold at 4.35 percent, where it has been since November 2023.

The RBA board said in its monetary policy statement that returning inflation to the bank's target range of 2-3 percent was its highest priority.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Canberra.
(XHTV)