In the year's fourth quarter, prices paid to Australian producers suddenly and unexpectedly declined, mainly on the back of a rise in the country's currency, which led to a cut in the cost of imported goods.

As compared to the year's third-quarter, the producer prices index in the fourth-quarter declined by 0.4%. During the previous quarter, the index had gained 0.1%. The figures were confirmed today by the Bureau of Statistics.

The result has been the opposite of the expectations pegged by analysts who were hoping for a gain of 0.1%. As compared to the fourth-quarter of last year, the index dropped 1.5%.

A fall in the wholesale prices might just give the central bank Governor Glenn Stevens another reason to keep the borrowing rate unchanged during next month's meeting, after increasing the benchmark rate of interest by a quarter percentage point for three consecutive months (October, November and December).

“With limited further upside to the Australian dollar and a broader recovery in the global economy, producer prices are likely to begin rising this year", said Alex Joiner, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

Overall, the price of materials used by manufacturers managed to decline by 15.2% during the year.