"We should stay the course and remain vigilant', says RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das
The Bank of England - which has an inflation target of 2% and economists polled by Reuters had forecast an annual rate of 3.1%
Some had higher inflation every month of the year
Recent data have not been helpful, with inflation stalled well above the US central bank's 2% target for the first quarter of the year
Others see a slowing economy and weakening job growth on the horizon, pushing the Fed to cut in order to support the labor market
China recorded an inflation figure of 0.7 per cent in February, its first increase after experiencing deflation months
Beating inflation implies earning higher returns on investment than the economy's inflation rate.
The Congress on Wednesday asserted that it would raise the issues of inflation, unemployment and Manipur unrest during the Budget Session of Parliament. The party's strategy for the Budget Session was discussed in a meeting of the Congress parliamentary strategy group chaired by the party's parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other party leaders attended the meeting. After the meeting, Congress' deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said, "In the presence of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge, a meeting was held." "The President of India's address (at the joint sitting of both the Houses ahead of the Budget Session) is usually about the steps that the government will undertake in future; there was no mention of inflation, unemployment, doubling farmer's income and the Manipur issue. We want these issues to be raised," the Congress leader said. Congress' chief whip in Lok Sabha K Suresh said there w
Food prices rose 3.3% in January from 0.3% in December, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement. Prices for non-food items rose 7.9% in January from 5.8% year-on-year in December
This was despite the real gross domestic product (GDP) being projected to grow by 7.3 per cent in the current financial year by the first advance estimates
This is the second consecutive month that the wholesale inflation rate had remained in the positive territory after it had recorded deflation for seven consecutive months until October 2023
Positive rate of inflation in December, 2023 was primarily due to an increase in prices of food articles, machinery & equipment, other manufacturing, other transport equipment
The Indian economy is facing the challenge of lower consumption growth as high inflation is impacting people in the lower income bracket, India Ratings and Research Chief Economist Devendra Kumar Pant said on Sunday. He said although the country's economy is now resilient enough to deal with the dual shocks of below-normal monsoon and high global oil prices, the challenge is to bring down inflation so that people can have more disposable income in their hands. "One percentage point reduction in inflation will lead to 64 basis points increase in GDP or 1.12 percentage points increase in PFCE (Private final consumption expenditure) growth... If inflation can be brought down by 1 percentage point, it would be a win win," Pant said in an interview to PTI. PFCE denotes money spent by individuals on goods and services for personal consumption. As per the estimates of Ind-Ra, which is a subsidiary of global rating agency Fitch Ratings, PFCE would grow 5.2 per cent year on year in current
NMDC's FY24 iron-ore production (April-November) stood at 27.3 million tonnes (MT) up 17.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) while sales volume grew 24.8 per cent Y-o-Y to 28.1 MT
For five consecutive policy reviews in 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chose to hold rates, citing inflation threat. And when the prices did cool off a bit, it reminded all about the target to get the headline consumer price inflation at 4 per cent and the risks from food inflation. Heading into the new year, all eyes are on when RBI will cut the rates, especially after one of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members stressed on the need for such an action in the face of the US Federal Reserve's guidance for easing rates. Also, some analysts point to the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) falling below the 4 per cent mark in mid-2024 and then, there will be prospects of a rate cut. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, who is into the last year of his second three-year term at the helm of the central bank, has been steadfast in highlighting the need to get the inflation down to 4 per cent on a durable basis. CPI cooled off to a four-month low of 4.87 per cent in October but rose to 5.5
External members flag high real interest rates
Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today
Inflation is expected to ease in the coming quarters
Inflation and central bank policy rates seem to have peaked for most countries, while the pace of economic activities remains varied across economies
Europeans again saw some relief as inflation dropped to 2.4% in November, the lowest in more than two years, as plummeting energy costs have eased a cost-of-living crisis but higher interest rates squeeze the economy's ability to grow. Inflation for the 20 countries using the euro currency fell from an annual 2.9% in October, according to numbers released Thursday by Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency. It's a far cry from the peak of 10.6% in October 2022 as an energy crisis left Europe's households and businesses struggling to make ends meet. The new figure is close to the European Central Bank's inflation target of 2% following a rapid series of interest rate hikes dating to summer 2022. But the tradeoff is stalled economic growth. With energy prices plunging 11.5% from a year earlier, it raises expectations that the ECB would hold rates steady for the second time in a row at its next meeting Dec. 14. ECB President Christine Lagarde reiterated this week that the ban