RBA Confirms Mortgage Holders Spending More on Petrol Clearly a Sign They’re Having Too Much Fun

SYDNEY – The Reserve Bank of Australia has confirmed that Australians spending more money at petrol stations is a clear indicator of robust consumer confidence and will be factored into the case for a fifth interest rate rise in May – with the central bank stating that any household filling up a tank at $2.87 per litre for diesel is clearly “living large.”

NAB chief economist Sally Auld has described the situation as “really hard” for the RBA because an energy price spike pushes inflation up while also slowing growth. The Gammon News economics desk has a simpler description which is “people paying more to go less places is not the same as spending more.”

“We’re watching consumption carefully” said one RBA spokesperson speaking from behind a desk most Australians can no longer afford to drive to. “Food spending is up 1.7 per cent. Construction costs are up. Fuel costs are up. This is all evidence of an overheated economy that needs cooling through higher mortgage repayments. The formula is very clear.”

First Nations economists – who have been pointing out for decades that remote communities pay two to three times more for groceries and fuel than capital cities – said they had been trying to explain this concept to Treasury for a generation.

“When mob in Yuendumu are paying twelve dollars for a loaf of bread that’s four dollars in Coles Parramatta that’s not strong consumer demand” said one economic policy researcher. “That’s called getting ripped off. Different variable. Different formula. Same people always paying.”

The RBA confirmed that the variable “people are getting less for paying more” was not currently included in its modelling because “it would mess up the PowerPoint.”