Australia’s Inflation Reaches 4% as Core Prices Stay Firm

Canberra, 30 September 2026 – Australia’s annual consumer inflation accelerated to 4.0% in August from 3.5% in July, renewing pressure on the country’s interest-rate and household-spending outlook. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the monthly figures on Wednesday. Its trimmed-mean measure, which reduces the influence of unusually large price moves, was unchanged at 3.6% over the year. The contrast shows that headline inflation rose while underlying price pressure remained persistently above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 2%–3% target range.

On an original, unadjusted basis, consumer prices rose 0.4% in August; the seasonally adjusted monthly increase was 0.7%. Both figures describe the same month using different treatments of seasonal patterns, so they should not be compared as if they were separate inflation events. The official table also put year-on-year seasonally adjusted CPI at 3.9%, distinct from the 4.0% unadjusted headline that typically leads coverage.