Tasmanian living costs dropped back in the March quarter, with wages growth pushing ahead of inflation.
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The consumer price index measure of Hobart inflation fell by 0.2 percentage points in the March quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated.
That left Hobart inflation - the best available measure for Tasmania - at an annual rate of 2.1 per cent.
That was less than the latest annual wages growth figure, ending a period where wages growth was outstripped by inflation.
The reversal of the trend, if maintained, could ease pressure on the state government to increase its wage rise offer to public servants.
The last issue of the ABS' wage price index estimated Tasmanian wages increased by 2.6 per cent in the year to December.
The index measures changes in wages paid for the same work, rather than average wages, so strips out factors like promotions, demotions, people shifting between jobs and part-time and full-time job status.
The wage price index for the year to the end of March will be released on May 15.
A 10.2 per cent drop in the price of fuel was a major contributor to the quarterly fall in Hobart inflation, the ABS found.
The cost of domestic holiday travel and accommodation fell by 3.4 per cent.
Those were partly offset by increases in the cost of :
- Rents, 1.6 per cent;
- pharmaceutical products, 6.5 per cent; and
- vegetables, 4.5 per cent.
National inflation was unchanged in the March quarter, after a 0.5 percentage point rise in the previous quarter.
That left inflation at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent.
That was well below the Reserve Bank's inflation target band of 2-3 per cent, increasing the chances of an interest rate cut.