Everything Is So Expensive and It Still Hasn’t Peaked: But Why?

The year is 2022. The pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, and prices skyrocketed. Everything is now overpriced – food, gas, airfare, hotel prices, and even Uber rates. Australian consumers are wondering…what’s going on?

The Economy as We Know It

Australians are experiencing increasing costs on day-to-day needs without wage increases to compensate. While this is the norm in many countries right now, it is still shocking that Australia’s level of inflation has hit a 20-year high. We could argue that the cause is simple supply and demand. With so many people out of work and many people struggling to make ends meet given the swift call for adjustments to inescapable inflation, we could wonder if there’s less money circulating in the economy. 

In addition, prices aren’t expected to stabilise throughout 2023, in fact, inflation rates are expected to continue to increase and there is a way to go, so the high prices we’re seeing now might be here to stay for longer than one would like. With businesses facing higher costs than ever due to inflation and the need to comply with safety regulations as well, as a result, they’re passing those costs on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

What Started the Price Increases?

While it may seem that COVID-19 is farther behind us, the pandemic has played a major role in the causes of inflation. The pandemic along with the supply chain crisis that it triggered has caused the prices of most things to increase. From something as simple as a carton of eggs or a litre of fuel, consumers are seeing fluctuating prices every day but still only in the higher price ranges. 

Overall, with so many things being in such short supply, shipping prices have gone up and will continue to go up and this is what causes the prices of goods to steadily increase.