Hopes for near-term interest rate cuts dashed as inflation soars in September to highest point since June 2024 quarter

Inflation has soared above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target band in the September quarter, pushing back hopes of a near-term rate cut.

The fresh inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be crucial to the RBA’s next interest rate call when it meets on November 4.

Headline inflation has soared from 2.1 per cent to 3.2 per cent.

This marks the largest quarterly rise since March 2023 and the highest annual inflation rate sine the June 2024 quarter.

Electricity costs were a large contributor to this as power prices lifted nine per cent.

Other main contributors included housing (up 2.5 per cent), recreation and culture (up 1.9 per cent) and transport (up 1.2 per cent).

Prior to the release of the data, economists were expecting trimmed mean inflation – the middle