Daniel Ziffer

So people are about to face a deluge of numbers when we get the inflation data released.

And it is actually quite difficult to make heads or tails of it because we're going to get multiple numbers that seemingly sound like the same thing, but are slightly different things.

And that's because the Shane Bureau of Statistics, the Reserve Bank actually relies on the ABS releasing this data.

We're getting both monthly data for March, but we also get quarterly data for

which takes into account the three months.

And so we'll get both headline figures.

So this is the rate overall that things are rising.

And in some ways, that's kind of what people feel because it takes into account also things like the rise of petrol costs and things that are seen as more volatile.

You'll get those headline figures.

And there's a little bit more variance in this from what I can see from different economists about how high it might be.

particularly for the monthly figure.

Some predicting it could even be the year-on-year figure could actually be above 5%, I think I saw from the AMP, whereas others are saying ANZ I'm looking at is up to 4.7%.

Then you have the trimmed mean number, which, as you say, is the preferred number that the RBA looks at, and that is because it takes out some of those volatile numbers because they think it gives a better perspective on actually the inflationary pressure

at the core of the economy.

Now, the RBA is more interested in the quarterly figure, is my understanding.

And they're looking at that to see whether or not the trend is in the right direction.

All economists agree it's going to be well above the target band of between 2% and 3%.

What they're hoping to see is that it eventually starts to come down.

Now, that's obviously very unlikely at this point because we have this major energy shock at play and we've got that flowing through.

But that is what they'll be trying to focus in on, and that's why people will be looking so closely at these numbers and looking at what's kind of driving these numbers higher.