15 MAY,2023.
Statistical succour(PG 6)(GS 3)
15 MAY,2023.
The reading for retail inflation braked sharply last month to an 18month low of 4.7%, aided in no small measure by the fact that price gains had hit an eightyear high of 7.8% in April 2022. While at the headline level inflation cooled by 96 basis points from March’s 5.66%, the monthonmonth price gains based on the provisional Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April showed a quickening to 0.51%, from the 0.23% pace in March. Inflation also slowed in April on the back of a yearonyear softening in food price gains with the Consumer Food Price Index easing almost lockstep with the broader index — the reading slid 95 basis points from the previous month’s 4.79%, to 3.84%. Oils and fats were a vital contributor, with a deflation in prices widening to 12.3% last month, from 7.86% in March. Also, inflation in cereals, which has the highest weight of almost 10% in the CPI, slowed by 160 basis points to 13.7%, from 15.3% in the preceding month.