"The key driver of this month's lift is likely to have been the reported easing in the ABS monthly inflation indicator, from 6.8 percent in April to 5.6 percent in May," said Westpac Group Chief Economist Bill Evans.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to hold the cash rate steady at 4.1 percent, while the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced on June 28 that the monthly Consumer Price Index indicator edged up 5.6 percent in the 12 months to May 2023.
Evans noted in the report that the consumer sentiment was considerably more buoyant ahead of RBA's decision, with an index read of 88, up 11.2 percent from June, which captured the full effect of the better news on inflation released in the previous week.
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