Retail inflation slips to 18-month low in December

In six of these 28 months - May, June and July 2017, and then October, November and December 2018 - the annual increase in the official consumer food price index has been negative. Deflation in food articles stood at 0.07 per cent in December, against 3.31 per cent in November. Vegetables, too, saw deflation at 17.55 per cent in December, compared to 26.98 per cent in the previous month. Fuel and light inflation was 4.54 per cent in December, down from 7.39 per cent in November on back of reduction in prices of petrol and diesel. The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation stood at 4.64 per cent in November 2018 and 3.58 per cent in December 2017. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mainly takes into account retail inflation data while formulating its monetary policy. In its fifth monetary policy review for the fiscal, the Central bank kept interest rates unchanged last month. The central bank lowered retail inflation projection to 2.7-3.2 per cent for the second half of the current fiscal, citing normal monsoon and moderate food prices. Dailyhunthttps://www.intensedebate.com/people/jeedsbeeds