SYDNEY, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The Australian consumer price index rose 0.9 percent in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, heralding another increase in interest rates.
Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics say the CPI rise takes the annual rate of inflation to 3.9 percent -- a touch below the 4-percent rate in the previous quarter and still above the Reserve Bank's comfort level for inflation of 2-to-3 percent.
Economists expect the bank to lift interest rates another quarter of a percent at its Nov. 9 meeting.
The Bureau of Statistics says the major contributors to the high CPI in the last quarter were due to fruit prices surging 20 percent and rents, water, sewerage, electricity and insurance costs also rising.
However, vegetables, pharmaceuticals and gasoline prices were down, the bureau said.
