The latest Consumer Price Index figures show a dramatic increase in the cost of living. What does this increase mean for you?

The cost of living has gone up. At 1130 on 27 April 2022 the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that the Consumer Price Index the CPI had risen 2.1 per cent in the March quarter and 5.1 per cent in the year. This exceeded nearly everybody’s worst expectation and has prompted talk for an increase in interest rates. But will this lead to an increase in wages?

Who does an increase in the CPI affect most in our community? Source: Source: drburtoni / Creative Common

Associate Professor Peter McCawley AM, is former Dean of the Asian Development Bank and Visiting Fellow in the Arndt-Corden Economics Division and the Indonesia Project at ANU.  He explains to Sri Dean why the increase in the CPI has both economic and political consequences and offers suggestions for addressing problem.

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Will the Reserve Bank of Australia raise interest rates before the Federal election? Source: Image by Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS