Inflation jumps to 4.6% in Australia as Iran war fuel shock begins to bite

Financial markets are betting the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates for a third straight meeting next Tuesday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Inflation jumped to 4.6% in the year to March, from 3.7% the month before, in what the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, warned was the start of an Iran war-linked fuel shock that will ripple through the economy over coming months. With consumer prices now growing at their fastest pace in two and a half years, financial markets and experts are betting the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates for a third straight meeting next Tuesday as officials struggle to manage the nightmare scenario of containing inflation even as growth is expected to slow sharply. The treasurer ahead of next month’s budget said “inflation is likely to peak higher than this”, even as he reassured Australians that the economy was well placed to navigate the fallout from the war. “We’ve got low unemployment, we’ve got solid wages growth, and so we’ve got pretty good foundations as we confront this period of heightened uncertainty in the global economy,” he told reporters in Brisbane. The interna