Australia inflation races to 32-year high, sounds rate alarm

SYDNEY  – Australian inflation raced to a 32-year high last quarter as the cost of home building and gas surged, an alarming result that will stoke pressure for a return to more aggressive rate hikes by the country’s central bank.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.8 percent in the September quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6 percent.

The annual rate shot up to 7.3 percent, from 6.1 percent, the highest since 1990 and almost three times the pace of wage growth.

A closely watched measure of core inflation, the trimmed mean, also climbed 1.8 percent in the quarter, lifting the annual pace to 6.1 percent and again far above forecasts of 5.6 percent.