Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said "This is the fourth consecutive quarter to show a rise greater than any seen since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2000. The increase for the quarter was slightly higher than the quarterly movements for the September and June quarters last year (both 1.8 per cent). The annual increase for the CPI is the highest since 1990. The monthly indicator recorded the largest annual rise in the series in December."

The annual price increase for goods (+9.5 per cent) showed little change from last quarter. The annual price increase of discretionary goods and services (+7.1 per cent) moved closer to that of non-discretionary goods and services (+8.4 per cent) compared with recent quarters.

Underlying inflation measures reduce the impact of irregular or temporary price changes in the CPI. For the third consecutive quarter, annual trimmed mean inflation was the highest since the series commenced in 2003, increasing to 6.9 per cent, up from 6.1 per cent in the September quarter, ABS said in a press release.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)