Australian inflation for the March 2026 quarter

Retail inflation starting to tick up

Published: 30 April 2026

Australian inflation lifted to 4.6% year-on-year as at March 2026. Across the quarter, inflation was 4.1%, up 50bp from the December 2025 quarter. In retail, price inflation ticked up by 30bp in the March 2026 quarter, driven by higher prices in clothing, footwear and furniture. We could see another 50-80bp of inflation in retail over the next year, skewed towards food categories as higher oil prices and oil-derived inputs flow through. Non-food inflation, excluding electronics, is likely to sustain very low inflation. The divergence in food inflation and non-food inflation will influence the retail sales growth path of both sub-sectors.

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