Petrol pump pressure on household spending
Families are forgoing spending on items such as health, food and entertainment just to keep the car on the road an Australian Bureau of Statistics report has shown.
RISING fuel costs and a switch to electric vehicles is affecting household spending, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports.
While spending was unchanged in August after modest rises in June and July, it was 6.8 per cent higher than at the same time last year.
Households were spending less on food and clothing but more on transport, especially after the end of fuel tax relief.
“Recreation and culture spending saw the largest fall, down 1.4 per cent,” said Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics.
“Clothing and footwear, recreational goods, food, health, and furniture also fell.
“These falls were offset by higher transport spending – up 2.3 per cent – leaving overall household spending unchanged from July.
“Both fuel spending and new vehicle sales contributed to this rise, especially electric vehicles sales as households respond to rising fuel prices.”
Fuel spending rose 8.1 per cent in August, following the full restoration of fuel excise duty from 3 August.
That followed the end of the Federal Government’s Fuel Tax Relief measures introduced on 1 April.
Excluding fuel spending, total household spending would have fallen by 0.3 per cent.
Experimental data produced by the ABS suggests that the volume of fuel spending fell by 0.5 per cent in August. This follows a 4.6 per cent decrease in July.
