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Australia Household Spending Increase in March on Fuel Price Hike
(MENAFN) Australian household spending accelerated sharply in March, rising 1.6 percent as soaring transport costs — fueled by climbing oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict — drove the strongest monthly gain in recent months, official data revealed Tuesday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that the March result marked a significant step up from the 0.3 percent rise recorded in February and the 0.2 percent increase in January, with spending climbing 6.3 percent in nominal terms compared to March 2025.
Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics, attributed the surge primarily to rising pump prices. "Household spending rose strongly in March, driven by a 5.1 percent rise in transport costs as fuel prices climbed in response to the conflict in the Middle East," he said.
The ABS noted that fuel prices spiked early in the month and peaked toward the end of March, prompting motorists to make smaller, more frequent refueling trips. A concurrent uptick in public transport usage also suggested that some households began shifting away from private vehicles in response to the cost pressures.
Food expenditure climbed 1.7 percent during the month, a rise the ABS linked to both higher prices and precautionary stockpiling by consumers anxious over the prospect of further global supply disruptions.
Despite the surge in fuel costs, the actual volume of fuel purchased by households fell 1.3 percent in March — a direct consequence of the staggering 32.8 percent jump in monthly fuel prices, which effectively forced consumers to buy less even as they spent more.
In volume terms, household spending grew 0.7 percent over the March quarter, extending a run of consecutive quarterly gains to six. Lay noted the increase was underpinned by non-discretionary categories, particularly health and food outlays.
On an annual basis, household spending volumes climbed 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the ABS said — the strongest yearly advance recorded since mid-2023 and a sign of resilient consumer activity despite mounting cost-of-living pressures.
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