By James Glynn
SYDNEY--Australian consumer confidence in April fell at its fastest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic as fuel prices rose sharply and on growing concerns that interest rates will need to rise further to cool inflation
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index for April fell 12.5% to 80.1 from 91.6 in March.
The threat that the war in the Middle East will drag on and slow economic growth around the world has also seen fears about job losses jump to its high level in a decade.
"The spike in fuel prices following the U.S.-Israel war on Iran and a further 25 basis point interest rate increase are again putting finances under intense pressure," said Matthew Hassan, head of Australian macro-forecasting at Westpac.
At 80, the index is back near historical lows, albeit above the extremes seen at the onset of the pandemic and during the recessions of the early 1990s and 1980s, Hassan said.
The data comes as the Reserve Bank of Australia warns that further interest rate increases are likely.
RBA Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser told a conference in the U.S. earlier Tuesday that policy makers are no longer confident that current interest rate settings are high enough to meet the growing inflation risk.
The RBA raised interest rates in February and March, with many economists expecting a further hike at its next policy meeting in May.
The biggest falls in confidence were across components tracking assessments of current conditions, with surging fuel costs weighing particularly heavily on family finances, the data showed.
The family finances sub-index plunged 16.7% to 66.8 in April from March.
-- Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-13-26 2130ET
