<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>331682</docID> <postdate>2024-10-24 13:05:01</postdate> <headline>‘No doubt’ inflation is moderating, says Gallagher</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-278682" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-08-at-2.58.00-pm.jpg" alt="" width="759" height="517" /></p> <caption>Katy Gallagher... hopeful ahead of the all-important quarterly consumer price numbers next week.</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Poppy Johnston</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Australia may be trailing the rest of the world on tackling inflation but the finance minister says the economy is performing better on other metrics, including job creation.</strong></p> <p>Katy Gallagher is hopeful ahead of the all-important quarterly consumer price numbers next week.</p> <p>"There is no doubt inflation is moderating and that is great," she told ABC radio on Thursday.</p> <p>The latest monthly consumer price index showed headline inflation rising 2.7 per cent in the 12 months to August and comforting progress on underlying inflation, which strips away volatility.</p> <p>With a federal election looming and the high cost of living hurting voters, the Labor government has been under pressure to prove its economic strategy is working.</p> <p>Fresh forecasts from the International Monetary Fund present Australia as a laggard in the global fight against inflation, with many other nations - the United States included - already cutting interest rates.</p> <p>The Washington-based IMF had Australia's inflation brushing the top of the two-three per cent target band by the end of 2024 but then jumping back to 3.6 per cent by the end of next year as energy bill relief falls off.</p> <p>The opposition has seized on the report, with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor highlighting it as evidence Australia is "at the back of the pack".</p> <p>"The government is failing to curb inflation and is "out of its depth", he says.</p> <p>Senator Gallagher says there's more to the story and Australia's economy is performing better on other measures, including no negative quarters of growth.</p> <p>She was able to point to higher unemployment rates in comparable nations as well.</p> <p>The Reserve Bank of Australia has pursued a deliberate strategy to keep the labour market healthy and Australians in jobs by not taking interest rates as high as its peers.</p> <p>The trade-off, however, has been a slower march back to within-target inflation,.</p> <p>Senator Gallagher added her government had been doing its bit to beat inflation, including paying down debt and delivering surpluses.</p> <p>Australia's budget balance as a share of GDP is strong compared to other G20 countries, with the government highlighting Australia's rise to third place in 2024 on that score, from 13th in 2021.</p> <p>"This is a big vote of confidence in Labor's management of the nation's finances," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said of the IMF figures released on Thursday.</p> </body>