(260505) -- CANBERRA, May 5, 2026 (Xinhua) -- A woman shops at a supermarket in Canberra, Australia, on May 5, 2026. Australia's household spending rose 1.6 percent in March, driven by surging transport costs linked to higher fuel prices amid the Middle East conflict, official data showed on Tuesday.
The March gains followed a rise of 0.3 percent in February and a rise of 0.2 percent in January, and were up 6.3 percent compared to March 2025 in nominal terms, said a release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
TO GO WITH "Australian households spend more as fuel prices jump" (Photo by Zhang Na/Xinhua)
