Retail inflation steadily easing, food prices still a concern: RBI bulletin

Retail inflation is gradually easing, but volatile and elevated food prices are interrupting the path of disinflation, the RBI Bulletin said on Wednesday.

An article on the "State of the Economy", published in the June 2024 Bulletin, said global growth was resilient in the first quarter of 2024, and many central banks have pivoted towards a less restrictive monetary policy stance in response to the fall in inflation in their economies.

In India, high-frequency indicators suggest the real GDP growth in Q1 FY2024-25 is broadly maintaining the pace it achieved in the preceding quarter.

Also, the prospects for agriculture are brightening with the early landfall of the southwest monsoon, said the article authored by a team led by Reserve Bank deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra.

"Headline inflation is gradually easing, driven by sustained softening of its core component, although the path of disinflation is interrupted by volatile and elevated food prices," the authors said.

The RB