Australian inflation rate surges to 4.5pc

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SYDNEY, July 23 (AFP): Australia's annual inflation rate soared to a 12-and-a-half year high of 4.5 per cent in the year to June, official data showed today.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the consumer price index rose 1.5 per cent in the three months to June, well up on the 1.3 per cent forecast by economists.

The quarterly figures took the annual inflation rate to 4.5 per cent, the highest since late 1995 and significantly above the Reserve Bank's 2-3 per cent target range.

However, the high reading is unlikely to spook the central bank as it predicted earlier this year.