Yahoo Finance Aussies will be hit with $1,700 bill, NAB warns
Christmas is less than 80 days away but NAB is warning it won’t be cause for celebration for everyone.
NAB’s latest Consumer Sentiment Survey revealed Aussies were expecting to spend an extra $170 per week in the lead-up to Christmas.
An extra $59 a week was expected to be spent on groceries, the survey of 2,050 Australians found, while an extra $35 was expected to be spent on fuel.
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Aussies are also expected to fork out $76 more on gas, electricity and water bills.
With about 10 weeks to go until Christmas, that means Aussies will shell out about an extra $1,700 in total.
NAB group executive for personal banking Rachel Slade said many customers were in good positions, thanks to high employment rates, but acknowledged some people were feeling cost-of-living pressures.
“Christmas can be a stressful time when it comes to finances,” Slade said.
“I encourage anyone struggling financially or worried about making home loan repayments to contact their bank as soon as possible. We are here to help.”
Almost one in two Australians said they were “being mindful or careful with their money and altering their behaviour” in response to rising costs, NAB found.
Six in 10 (61 per cent) Aussies had switched to cheaper brands or had shopped around for cheaper products.
One in two (54 per cent) said they cancelled or cut back on food-delivery services and/or on entertainment (47 per cent).
More than a third (36 per cent) said they cancelled or cut back on subscriptions like newspapers, magazines or audio books.
Cost of living surges
The cost of living surged to 7 per cent in the year to July, the latest inflation data found, before slightly easing to 6.8 per cent in the year to August.
Construction costs, petrol and food were the main drivers of the increased cost of living.
Petrol prices were up 15 per cent in the year to August, while the cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages was up 9.3 per cent.
It also follows the end of the fuel excise cut in September.
CommSec economist Craig James has predicted petrol prices could hit $2.15 a litre in the coming weeks as capital cities return to the top of their fuel cycles and the excise kicks back in.
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