Six back-to-back interest rate hikes have left Aussie mortgage holders reeling from the need to find $1030 extra a month to meet repayments on a $750,000 loan.
While international price comparisons are difficult, given currency fluctuations, a rough snapshot of local prices by our foreign correspondents this week suggests Aussie caffeine addicts are getting a pretty good deal – paying around $4 for a takeaway coffee in Sydney and $4.50 in Melbourne –AP Inflation fell to 2.5 per cent in August year-on-year from 2.7 per cent a month earlier. Fuel prices, which are controlled by state economic planners, dropped as did food despite the drought gripping parts of the country.
Externally, China’s rolling COVID restrictions are having an upward inflationary impact outside of its borders by tightening shipping supply lines and limiting the flow of goods out of its ports – pushing up prices for electronics and other consumer items in Australia and around the world.
At the other end of the scale, the rising price of the city-state’s famous chicken rice has also been in the news since Malaysia, concerned about its own domestic supply, suspended chicken exports in June. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Jakarta and other cities last month after fuel subsidies were cut to relieve pressure on the government budget. It was a decision that sent prices at the bowser up by 30 per cent, hurting the country’s 130 million motorcycle users in particular.
Walk into any supermarket, furniture outlet or petrol station across the country and you’re likely to hear similar concerns. The Biden administration says it has sought to alleviate some of the price pain by attempting to fix broken supply chains, giving the Federal Reserve “full reign” to fight inflation, and tapping into the strategic oil reserve - something it may have to do again in wake of OPEC’s production cuts.
And with the midterm elections in five weeks, the cost of living in the US could end up determining who controls Congress after November 8 – and in turn, the fate of Joe Biden’s first-term agenda.
Potato crops were also ravaged by the UK’s heatwaves this summer, which saw a record-breaking 41 degrees Celsius being recorded in some parts of the country. The increase in wholesale prices of potatoes have been passed on to customers in restaurants, takeaways, and supermarkets.
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