Australian households will hope for hints of progress on still-high prices when a key measure of inflation is released.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will unveil its consumer price index for January on Wednesday.

In the 12 months to December, the index rose 3.4 per cent, well down from the 4.3 per cent growth through to November.

St George economist Jameson Coombs said the indicator should be “treated as a signal, but not as gospel” because only some of the basket of goods and services captured in the quarterly report were updated each month. 

As the first month in the quarter, he said a large share of those items updated would be goods prices rather than services. 

“This presents considerable scope for a soft number come Wednesday,” Mr Coombs said.

But with price pressures in services still strong, he said the remaining two months in the quarter could swing higher as those categories are recorded. 

“More important than the headline number will be unpicking specific dynamics within the inflation basket,” the economist said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the monthly numbers were less reliable than the quarterly measure.

“But the overall direction of travel is clear: annual inflation moderated to a two-year low at the end of last year, but we would like it to moderate further and faster,” he said.

The central bank has been lifting interest rates to bring down inflation and, although is getting closer to its two-three per cent target range, is forecasting a prolonged final stretch to get there by 2025.

The ABS will also release its quarterly update on completed building and engineering construction work on Wednesday.