Reserve Bank meets; interest rates anticipated to rise amid fuel price shocks

Even before today’s expected rise in official interest rates, the country’s shoppers were feeling down.

ANZ-Roy Morgan’s weekly measure of consumer sentiment, published this morning, has fallen to its lowest level since March 2020, when the country was shut down to stop the spread of Covid.

Confidence fell 4.9 per cent last week as Australians worried about war against Iran and its impact on oil prices and inflation

“Households are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the one- and five-year outlooks for the economy, likely due to geopolitical uncertainty and the changing inflation and interest rate outlook,” ANZ economist Sophia Angala said.