ABC

The annual rate of headline inflation fell to 2.7 per cent in August, down from 3.5 per cent in July.

That huge slowdown in the pace of headline inflation was expected, but economists say it needs to be interpreted cautiously.

They say it partly reflects the recent introduction of Commonwealth and state government electricity rebates which have helped to drive down measured inflation in a technical way.

An important measure of underlying inflation — called “trimmed mean” inflation — only fell to 3.4 per cent in August, down from 3.8 per cent in July, according to the Bureau of Statistics’s latest monthly consumer price inflation (CPI) indicator.

Read the full article on the ABC’s website to read comments from the Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and AMP Deputy Chief Economist Diana Mousina.