But Prime Minister John Howard assures citizens that come September, the effect of the sharp rise in banana prices will pass.
In case you don't know, latest figures showed a 4% annual inflation rate for Australia, and the Central Bank will almost certainly raise official interest rates next week to fight inflation.
"A large portion of the rise was due to bananas, in short supply since Cyclone Larry swept through north Queensland in March, and the flow-on impact of high petrol prices", accoridng to Sydney Morning Herald:
Mr Howard said the price of bananas had had a "quirky" effect on the consumer price index and that prices should come down soon.
"What happened was that people shifted to buy other fruit because there were no bananas available," he told ABC radio.
"And not only did bananas go up but all the other fruit went up as well.
"The good thing about that is that in three months' time that'll be out of the system because they're not going to go up by the same amount again and they hopefully might have come down a bit.
"So the movement will be in the right direction."
Banana prices have risen as high as $16 a kilogram since Larry wiped 80 per cent of the national crop, compared with a pre-cyclone average of $2.50 to $3.
Banana effect ...
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