The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the Consumer Price Index, Australia data for the June 2012 quarter today and the inflation rate continues to plummet in the face of a slowing economy. The trend over the second half of 2011 was for inflation to ease. But the plunge in the first six months of 2012 that today’s data reveals is suggesting a weakening economy notwithstanding the first-quarter national accounts data which showed above-trend growth. pointing to a very sick economy. The annual inflation rate is now estimated to be 1.2 per cent (down from 1.6 per cent in the 12 months to March 2012) with a downward trend. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred inflation measures – the Weighted Median and Trimmed Mean – are now at or below its inflation targetting range. This suggests that they will soon have to consider inflation to be “too low” and as a result engage in significant monetary policy easing. The inflation trend clearly contradicts the commentators who have been predicting the opposite on the basis of the (modest) rise in the budget deficit over the last few years as the downturn hit Australia. Their standing in the predictions stakes continues to be dented by the data. The evidence is suggesting that the economy is slowing under the weight of the federal government obsession with achieving a budget surplus in the coming fiscal year.