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Australia's 1.3 pct inflation at 3-year low: official data

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's official inflation rate over the past year is 1.3 percent, its slowest annual pace in nearly three years, official figures showed on Wednesday.

The low-inflation figure has prompted economists to predict that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would lower interest rates from 2.5 percent to 2 percent next month.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said the consumer price index (CPI) figures, the key measure of inflation, lifted by 0.2 percent in the three months to March, bringing the annual rate to 1.3 percent.

This is well below the bottom of the Reserve Bank's 2-3 percent inflation target.

Global oil prices have recently fallen to five-year low amid an oversupply, pushing local petrol prices under one Australian dollar (77 U.S. cents)-a-liter in some areas, from around 1.30 Australian dollars (1 U.S. dollar) in early December.

The ABS said fuel prices fell 12.2 percent during the March quarter while the price of fruit dropped 8 percent.

Tertiary education was the highest rising sector increasing 5.7 percent in the quarter while medical and hospital services rose 2. 2 percent. Endi