SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank is looking at underlying inflation measures in new monthly data to assess if there might be a new preferred gauge for policy, a senior official said on Tuesday, adding that any change would be some way off.
Speaking at an event in Sydney, Michael Plumb, head of the economic analysis department at the Reserve Bank of Australia, said the central bank would continue to focus on the quarterly data and use the “trimmed mean measure” to assess underlying inflationary pressures.
“That said, we have also been analysing underlying inflation measures constructed using the monthly data,” Plumb said.
“As more monthly data become available, eventually we aim to assess which underlying inflation measures from the monthly data will be preferred in a post-quarterly CPI world.”
Plumb said any change would be some way off and policymakers would communicate their thinking ahead of any decisions.
The RBA was forced to raise interest rates by a quarter-point this month to 3.85% as inflation reaccelerated after three rate cuts last year. The central bank has said it is focused on the quarterly trimmed mean measure to gauge inflation trends, noting the new monthly figures are volatile and it would take some time for seasonal adjustments to catch up.
(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
Comments