It is often argued the bump in the retail price inflation rate in July was due to the outdated priority given to food and beverage items in the consumer price index (CPI), which is based on the household consumption expenditure survey of 2011-12.
This is evident from the fact that while the wholesale price index (WPI) rate in food items rose higher, at 14.25 per cent, in the month than its equivalent in the CPI, at 11.51 per cent, the overall WPI rate was minus 1.36 per cent whereas the CPI was 7.44 per cent.
This was due to the