Australia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.2% in the 12 months to April, down from a 4.6% increase in the year to March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Wednesday.
The largest contributors to annual inflation were housing, up 6.3%, followed by transport, which increased 6.6%, and food and non-alcoholic beverages, which jumped 2.8%.
The impact of higher oil prices was "seen in products and services with high freight and logistics costs, such as parcel delivery and building materials," said Sue-Ellen Luke, the bureau's head of prices statistics.
Trimmed mean inflation came in at 3.4% in the 12 months to April, up from 3.3% in the year to March.
Annual goods inflation declined to 4.7% in the year to April from 5.5% in March, while services inflation fell to 3.5% from 3.6%, per the report.
Of the 11 groups in the CPI, seven experienced a slowdown in annual growth in April compared with March, with transport prices moderating the most.
Annual housing inflation was 6.3% in the 12 months to April, reflecting rising costs for electricity, new dwellings, and rents.
Electricity costs were 22.5% higher than 12 months ago, primarily related to the end of the Australian government and state-level rebates.
On a month-on-month basis, the consumer price index grew 0.4% in April from a 1.1% increase in March.
Automotive fuel prices fell 7% in the month to April, after rising 32.8% in March. They are still 23.5% higher than in February, and before the impact of the Middle East conflict, Luke added. Automotive fuel was excluded from the trimmed mean in both March and April.
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