Western Australia’s hard border with the rest of the nation and its COVID-19 suppression measures have helped the state’s economic performance, according to CommSec.
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at 12:10 am on January 28, 2021 | 8 comments
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday released consumer price index (CPI) data for the December quarter, which revealed that property rents fell sharply in 2020.
While property rents rose by 0.1% of the quarter:
Over the 2020 calendar year, rents fell by 1.3%:
The next chart plots rental growth across the capital cities:
As you can see, six jurisdictions recorded rental declines in 2020, whereas two recorded positive growth.
In real inflation-adjusted terms, rents across the combined capital cities fell by 0.8% over the December quarter and by 2.2% year-on-year:
In fact, real inflation-adjusted rents were 7.5% below their March 2015 peak, according to the ABS:
‘The reality is that, for Australians who don’t smoke (most of us), prices barely increased at all.’ Photograph: David Gray/Getty Images
One of the weird consequences of Covid-19 is that it has actually hidden the weakness of the economy. When things are going to hell due a pandemic, it gets all the blame, and yet, as the latest inflation figures show, Australia’s economy has been weak for many years now.
The consumer price index figures for December, released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, show the continual impact of the pandemic. After a record fall of 1.9% in the June quarter last year, followed by an absurd 1.6% jump in September, the last three months of 2020 saw a 0.8% increase in prices:
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(Repeats item with no changes in text. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) GRAPHIC - Australia s exports to China vs exports of metal ores, coal: tmsnrt.rs/3pnQwPJ
LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 27 (Reuters) - China is paying a heavy toll for its efforts to punish Australia by banning or restricting certain commodity imports, while conversely Australia seems to have avoided any serious financial ramifications so far.
It is perhaps surprising that the authorities in Beijing, having witnessed how the trade war launched by former U.S. President Donald Trump backfired on his own country, would be keen to try the same thing on Australia.
Euro Drops As ECB Knot Hints At Rate Cut To Contain Currency Appreciation
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The euro weakened against its major peers in the European session on Wednesday, after European Central Bank Governing Council member Klass Knot remarked that the central bank has tools to counter the strength of the single currency, if it threatens its inflation target.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Knot said that the ECB has scope to reduce its deposit rate further in order to improve financing conditions and attain its inflation goal. There is still room to cut rates, Knot, who also heads the central bank of the Netherlands, said.