Consumer prices are expected to keep sinking from their peak as inflationary pressures start to ebb.
The monthly consumer price index, introduced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to supplement the less volatile quarterly version, is tipped to keep falling from its December peak of 8.4 per cent annual growth.
NAB economists anticipate the monthly indicator to slide to 7.2 per cent annual growth in February from 7.4 per cent in January, in line with consensus.
Commonwealth Bank economists anticipate a softer 6.9 per cent year-on-year lift in the monthly gauge in February.
The indicator, which measures the change in the price of a basket of goods and services consumed by households, was flagged by the Reserve Bank as one of the key pieces of economic data to absorb ahead of the April cash rate.
Retail trade, another important source of data for the RBA, came in basically flat in line with expectations, lifting a modest 0.2 per cent in February.
© AAP 2023