Page 25 - Inflation

Rates to stay higher, battle against inflation not yet over: IMF's Gopinath

Affirming that the fight against price rise is not yet over, IMF's Gita Gopinath on Tuesday said interest rates are likely to stay higher than during the period immediately after the global financial crisis. There are expectations though that it will come down sometime this year, the International Monetary Fund's First Deputy Managing Director said. Speaking at a session during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 here, Gopinath dismissed the market bets for a cut in interest rates as premature. "The markets are expecting central banks to cut rates pretty aggressively. I think that's a bit premature to make that conclusion. "We should expect rates to come down some time this year but based on the data we see right now, we expect this to be more likely in the second half of this year," she said. She also felt that chances of a deep recession were less likely.

Real, nominal GDP growth, inflation play out differently this time around

This happened because inflation, as viewed by GDP deflators, is expected to be quite lower than initially projected for first time, contrary to what had happened ahead of 3 previous interim Budgets

Nine states record higher inflation than India average, shows data

While the average Indian consumer's cost of living rose by 5.69 per cent compared to the previous year, it rose 8.73 per cent in Odisha, 7.07 per cent in Gujarat and 6.95 per cent in Rajasthan

US consumer prices up more than expected in Dec, weekly jobless claims fall

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% last month after nudging up 0.1% in November, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday

US small business sentiment up; labour, inflation worries persist

A net negative 25% of businesses reported improved profits in December, a 7 point increase from the month prior, with labor costs continuing to weigh on earnings, the report said

UK economy to hit 2% inflation target by spring in upgraded outlook

A 1% cut in the basic rate of income tax in April would add another £4 billion this year, and a halving of the inheritance tax rate to 20% would be worth close to £1 billion more for 2024

Inflation's pulse: Yellow peas imports to help potential chickpea shortfall

Advancements in pulses technology and its widespread adoption across India could help achieve self-sufficiency. For now, though, the hope is that matar will address the inflation matter

Central theme of '24: Fight with inflation for growth

A rate cut will happen this year. When? It will depend on the growth-inflation dynamics as well as the US Fed action

India to be fastest-growing economy in 2024 after withstanding headwinds

India decisively withstood global headwinds in 2023 and is likely to remain as the world's fastest-growing major economy on the back of growing demand, moderate inflation, stable interest rate regime and robust foreign exchange reserves. Despite widespread pessimism witnessed among the developed nations and the worsening geopolitical situation, India recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) expansion of 6.1 per cent in the March quarter. The growth moved up to 7.8 per cent in the June quarter and was 7.6 per cent in the September quarter. For the first six months of this fiscal, the growth was 7.7 per cent. The growth momentum is expected to sustain in the December quarter, making India the fastest-growing major economy in the world much ahead of China. According to the latest growth projections of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which appear conservative, India will record a growth of 6.3 per cent in 2023, ahead of China and Brazil at 5.2 per cent

Rahul Gandhi, Kharge identify unemployment, inflation as key problems

Cong picked Nagpur to mark its foundation day and launch its LS campaign, 'Hum Tayyar Hain', given the city's salience in shaping the ideological contours of the last hundred years of Indian politics

Rate impact, inflation decline: Axis MF forecasts 2024 as year of contrast

Citing the recent state election results, the note stated that the risks from the general election are low

Centre extends import duty exemption on tur, urad dal to March 2025

Prices of pulses have seen an inflation of 20 per cent in November. Recently, the Centre had also extended the import duty exemption for masur dal by one year to March 2025

Govt hopeful of 'bountiful harvest' amid food inflation headwinds

With India's farm sector remaining resilient to erratic weather conditions, the government is hopeful of having bountiful food grain production even as it tries hard to keep a lid on food inflation ahead of general elections in 2024. From floods to droughts, extreme weather events this year have not only raised fears over foodgrain production but also created an artificial supply scare that forced the government to take a slew of pre-emptive measures, including export curbs on certain commodities. Besides, the government subsidised the sale of a few commodities to improve domestic supply and arrest the sharp spikes in retail prices of wheat, rice, edible oils, pulses, tomato, and onion. While the efforts to control food prices are still on, the government is closely watching the prospects of rabi (winter) crops, especially wheat and pulses, which are sown now and will be ready for harvest closer to 2024 general elections in April-May. Food inflation remained at an elevated level ..

Consumers find relief from boiling oil prices in 2023 even after CPI rises

According to data by Bizom, prices of edible oils ranged from a fall of 13.3 per cent to 30.2 per cent in November this year compared to last year

Inflation to ease to 4.6% in the first three quarters of 2024-25: RBI

The RBI bulletin released on Wednesday said that global growth continues to remain fragile and may slow down further in 2024

India tops remittances table with $125 bn inflows: World Bank report

Inflation declining and strong labour markets in high-income source countries boosted transfers by highly skilled Indians, it says

WPI inflation in Nov at 0.26%, returns to positive territory after 7 months

The rise in WPI inflation was led by food inflation. The index in this category rose steeply by 4.69% in November as compared to 1.07% in October

Louis Dreyfus eyes deeper engagement with agritech startups: Sumeet Mittal

Inflation in 2023-24 and 2024-25 won't be as impactful as it was last year

Modi's guarantee is guarantee of inflation: Cong slams over sky high prices

The Congress on Wednesday slammed the government over "skyrocketing prices" of essential commodities, saying "Modi's guarantee is the guarantee of inflation". Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completely failed to control inflation and they keep raising various issues to hide this "failure". In a post in Hindi on X, Ramesh said, "Modi's guarantee is the guarantee of inflation!" "Nowadays, the BJP is talking about the guarantee of the Prime Minister.Don't know about their other guarantees, but one guarantee that the country has got in the last nine and a half years is the guarantee of inflation." Due to the wrong policies of this government, inflation has already broken the record of 45 years, he said. "The prices of essential commodities are continuously skyrocketing. Due to increasing prices of food items, retail inflation has now reached 5.5 percent," Ramesh said. "The prime minister has completely failed to control inflation

US inflation likely cooled again last month as Fed prepares to assess rates

This year's steady slowdown in US inflation likely continued in November, though the latest data may also point to steadily higher prices in some areas of the economy. Tuesday's inflation report from the Labor Department is expected to show that businesses kept overall prices unchanged for a second straight month. Falling gas prices, in particular, are thought to have offset a rise in food costs from October to November. And compared with a year earlier, inflation is expected to ease to 3.1 per cent from 3.2 per cent in October, according to a survey of economists by FactSet. But a closely watched category called core prices, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, is predicted to rise 0.3 per cent from October to November a monthly pace that far outpaces the Federal Reserve's 2 per cent annual inflation target. On a year-over-year basis, core prices are expected to increase 4 per cent, the same as in October. The Fed considers core prices to be a better guide to the likely