An analytical chapter in the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook notes that inflation expectations play a key role in shaping inflation dynamics. Expectations that future inflation will rise could feed into current inflation rates, keeping them elevated for longer. In this context, our lead editorial notes that things have become a bit more complicated for the Reserve Bank of India, with the recent supply-driven inflation spikes. Clear communication, uncompromising commitment to the inflation target, and readiness to act, if necessary, will be critical at this stage. Read here
In other views:
Unlike those born in the 1940s and 1950s, the current generation can no longer take economic progress for granted, writes Shankar Acharya. Read here
The urge to retain hand-outs that perpetuate power equations has left governments with less to spend on things that really matter to people— education, healthcare, access to employment and welfare for the truly needy—as lower-than-potential economic growth constrains their revenues and keeps large swathes of India in a permanent state of expectancy, writes Kanika Datta. Read here