Surprise: Australian consumer prices fall.

Gasoline prices in Australia are down 12.4 percent. Fruit prices fell 5.2 percent (it is summer in Australia) and pharmaceutical prices were down 5.0 percent. The consumer price index dropped 0.1 percent. And this was the first time in eight years that Australian consumer prices registered lower. The decline was unexpected and largely due to the fall in oil prices.

The record setting development was reported by Bloomberg News on January 24, 2007. Bloomberg cited the Australian Bureau of Statistics as its source.

Bloomberg said that the drop in prices made it less likely that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would raise interest rates anytime soon.

Last year's three interest rate hikes by the RBA dampened household spending. Borrowing was also down. Bloomberg said that retail sales grew at the slowest pace in six months in November 2006. Home loan approvals also declined. At the end of 2006, Australia had one of the fastest growing rates of inflation among developed countries.