ABS data revealed household spending on discretionary goods and services - meaning non-essential items - was 0.6 per cent lower compared to May last year.
About 70 per cent of Australia's mortgage holders are worried about meeting their repayments, with younger people feeling the pinch in particular, new research has found.
Australia's major banks have downgraded their forecasts for economic growth as cash strapped consumers tighten their belts in response to continued interest rate rises.
Inflation of 2.2 per cent. Interest rates at 1.5 per cent. It's a scenario that seems too good to be true for Aussies struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Australia's $2.2 trillion economy is sitting on a knife edge with a 50-50 chance of tipping into recession in the next 12 months, says a leading economist.
New data has revealed Australia's "misery index" is almost as high as it was during the global financial crisis, due to climbing inflation and interest rates.
ANZ has predicted more pain at the hip pocket for Aussie borrowers, revealing today it expects interest rates to rise again by another 0.5 per cent next month, while forecasting the cash rate to hit a peak of 4.35 per cent in August.
Amid the news of a surplus is something that will have a more tangible effect on Australians' bank balances: forecasts that wages growth will start outpacing inflation.
It will be a "close call" when the RBA meets next week, as new figures show inflation has slowed to 7 per cent as cash-strapped Aussies cut their spending.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that headline inflation rose by 1.4 per cent in the March quarter, and by 7 per cent on an annual basis.
The central bank revealed in its board meeting minutes prior to announcing its April decision members considered hiking the cash rate again as the beat of inflation remained stubbornly high.
Millions of Australians will be hit with a "student debt avalanche", a senator has warned, after a parliamentary inquiry report rejected a proposed law to freeze $74 billion in HECS and HELP loans.