India’s consumer price inflation hits a 6-year peak of 7.59%
12 Feb 2020
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Consumer price inflation in the country based on the consumer price index rose to 7.59 per cent in January 2020, the highest since May 2014, on the back of higher food prices and rising telecom tariffs, official data released today showed.
Consumer price inflation stood at 7.35 per cent in December 2019, according to data released by the ministry of statistics and program implementation.
This is the second straight month that consumer price inflation has remained above the upper end of Reserve Bank of India’s tolerance level of 2-6 per cent.
Rising inflation amidst stagnant growth has made it difficult for RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee to manipulate interest rates even as the RBI continues to try and push up credit flow to support the economy.
India’s consumer price inflation has been steadily rising after hitting 3.15 per cent in July as food prices continued to rise steadily for the past few months, as opposed to the wholesale price inflation that has steadily declined till September.
The inflation rate based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 2.11 per cent in December 2018.
Data released by the CSO showed that inflation rate for the food basket eased to 13.6 per cent in January 2020 from its December 2019 high of 14.12 per cent. Food price inflation was at (-) 2.24 per cent in January 2019.
Consumer price inflation for the rural areas shot up further to7.73 per cent in January 2020 from 7.26 per cent in December 2019. It was 1.22 per cent in January 2019.
Consumer price inflation for the urban areas shot up further to 7.39 per cent in January 2020 from 7.46 in December 2019. It was at 2.91 per cent in January 2019.
Food price inflation for rural areas zoomed to 13.02 per cent in January 20202 from 12.97 per cent in December 2019. It was (-) 2.94 per cent in January 2019.
Food price inflation for urban areas declined to levels of 14.77 per cent in January 2020 from 16.12 per cent in December 2019. It was (-) 0.88 per cent in January 2019.
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