India fails to contain growth of retail inflation
2023.02.13 08:43
India fails to contain growth of retail inflation
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Due to higher food prices, India’s annual retail inflation in January exceeded the upper threshold set by the central bank for the first time in three months. This could keep policymakers’ bias toward managing higher prices.
According to government data released on Monday, India’s annual retail inflation rate increased to 6.52% in January from 5.72% in December.
According to a Reuters survey of 44 analysts, retail inflation in January exceeded the Reserve Bank of India’s upper target of 6% for the first time since October and was significantly higher than the estimate of 5.9%.
Consumer price inflation (CPI) basket inflation, which accounts for nearly 40% of food costs, increased to 5.94% in January from 4.19% in December. Milk and cereals’ prices continued to rise.
The Reserve Bank of India surprised the markets when it raised its key repo rate by a quarter of a point last week and said that core inflation remained high.