Although the relatively small inflation is gladly greeted by consumers across the country, ARB economist claim that it is indicative of an economy that is not being fully utilized and has room for further growth. The newest figures, released on January 27th, represent a 0.5 percent growth in the CPI, down from 1.0 percent in September. Underlying inflation for the December quarter was 0.6 percent, 0.2 percent below the September quarter.

According to a media release by Wayne Swanson, Treasurer of Australia, the primary contributors to the rise in CPI were increases in the prices of food, housing and recreation, though these have been partially offset by continually falling costs of transportation. Recreation contributed 0.2 percent of the CPI rise figure, food and housing provided a further 0.2 percent each. The falling costs of transportation, primarily through decreases in fuel prices, detracted 0.1 percent from the figure.

According to the media release, the inflation is expected to be maintained at a moderate level. Although it went on to say that the Australian Government will aim to achieve increased levels of productivity through investment in skills, education, infrastructure of the country, alongside positive economic reforms, all of which should provide the nation with strong growth and low levels of inflation.

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This year, of the countries surveyed, New Zealand was found to be the least corrupt, with Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland following. Somalia was the country perceived to have the highest level of corruption, trailed by Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Iraq. The UK and the US ranked 17th and 19th, respectively. China was ranked 79th, Russia came in at 146th and India received a ranking of 84th.

The CPI is constructed by compilation of thirteen sets of data, attained from ten independent sources, such as the World Bank and World Economic Forum. Seven of the thirteen datasets are provided by an expert evaluation or risk assessment group, the remaining six are results from business sector corruption perception surveys.

According to Huguette Labelle, Chairperson of Transparency International, speaking in a video release accompanying the report results, this study shows that no country is completely free of corruption, though on average some areas score better than others. The survey shows that a “vast majority” of countries score less than five, which according to Huguette Labelle, points to a grave situation in a time of tentative economic recovery and mass use of government stimulus packages.

An overview of the CPI study can be seen on the Transparency International website.