SYDNEY: Australian consumer prices fell in January-March for the first time since 2008 during the global financial crisis, data showed on Wednesday, putting pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates and sending the local dollar tumbling.

The statistics bureau said the consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.2 percent in the quarter from the previous three months—when prices had risen 0.4 percent—as plunging world oil prices sent the cost of fuel lower.

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