A first in 3 decades, retail inflation in US higher than India for 4 months

Emerging markets such as India have always run higher inflation rates than developed economies such as the US and countries of Western Europe.

But for the first time in the past 30 years, the US reported a higher consumer price inflation (CPI) rate than India in five consecutive months.

The US reported a CPI rate of 7.5 per cent in January 2022 against 6.01 per cent in India and analysts expect the trend to continue for at least a few months more (see the adjoining charts).

Before this, inflation in the US was higher than in India on only four occasions -- November