Food price pressures slowing down fall in retail inflation towards 4% target: RBI bulletin [Video]

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin on Tuesday (March 19) said food price pressures are putting the brakes on the fall in retail inflation towards the central bank’s target of 4%.

“Even as inflation is on the ebb with broad-based softening of core inflation, the repetitive incidence of short amplitude food price pressures deters a swifter fall in headline inflation towards the target of 4%,” RBI said in an article on the ‘State of Economy’ in the central bank’s March bulletin.

Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been on a decline since December 2023 and was at 5.09% in February 2024. “The global economy is losing steam, with growth slowing in some of the most resilient economies and high-frequency indicators pointing to further levelling in the period ahead,” the RBI bulletin said.

In India, real GDP growth was at a six-quarter high in the third quarter of the financial year 2023-24, powered by strong …