CANBERRA: Australia's annual rate of inflation fell to 3.7 per cent in February, defying the expectation of economists who had forecast it would remain at 3.8 per cent.
According to official data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday, the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.7 per cent in the year to February, down from the 3.8 per cent reported in December and January, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported earlier on Wednesday that financial markets were expecting headline inflation to remain at 3.8 per cent for the third consecutive month.
The ABS said that the annual trimmed mean, a measure of underlying inflation preferred by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), remained unchanged at 3.3 per cent in February, above the central bank's 2-3 per cent target range.