Australian Consumer Confidence Drops. The week prior saw a slight decline in Australian consumer confidence and an increase in inflation expectations in response to higher fuel prices.
Survey results show that consumer confidence dropped by 0.3 points to 82.8 in an ANZ Bank and pollster Roy Morgan survey. The four-week moving average increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%, and weekly inflation expectations increased by 0.1 percentage points to a six-week high of 5.2%.
For fifteen weeks running, confidence has hovered around 80 to 85, according to ANZ Senior Economist Catherine Birch.
Prior to the Easter long weekend, inflation expectations increased, most likely as a result of rising petrol prices, according to Birch. However, she added that households might have also been more acutely aware of the recent wave of high chocolate inflation brought on by rising cocoa prices worldwide.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to hold interest rates earlier in the month may have contributed to the 1.2 point increase in confidence among homeowners who are paying off their mortgages, which increased to 80 points.
According to the majority of economists, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has shifted away from hinting that it might raise interest rates even more in the event that inflation turned out to be persistent.
The RBA’s most recent policy meeting minutes, which were released on Tuesday, clearly showed this less aggressive position. The data showed that for renters, confidence remained relatively stable at 81.7 points, while for outright homeowners, it decreased by 2.1 points to 86.0 points.
The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan survey is based on 1,554 phone and online interviews that were done from Monday through Sunday. Australian Consumer Confidence Drops
