India August inflation preview: India's August inflation may be significantly above RBI's 2-6% target range
RBI's) target range of 2-6 per cent. Official data on retail inflation will be released on Tuesday (September 12). According to the median of estimates by 18 economists in a Mint poll, India’s retail inflation likely eased to 7 per cent in August from July’s 15-month high of 7.44 per cent.
The poll predicts Consumer Price Index (CPI) will range between 6.8 per cent and 7.3 per cent, with six economists giving the 7 per cent figure, and only four seeing it lower. Read more: Inflation likely eased in August The CPI inflation shot up to a much sharper-than-expected 15-month high level of 7.44 per cent in July 2023 from 4.9 per cent in June 2023, due to sharp rises in the prices of vegetables and some other food items such as pulses, spices and cereals. Excluding vegetables, the increase in the CPI inflation print was relatively tolerable, to 5.4 per cent in July 2023 from 5.2 per cent in the previous month.
Moreover, the core CPI (CPI excluding food and beverages, fuel and light and petrol and diesel) eased to a 21-month low of 5.1 per cent in July 2023. Read more: Mint Explainer: Why is retail inflation at a 15-month high? The recent sharp rise in crude oil prices has added to the worries about inflation. Brent Crude continues trading above the $90 per barrel mark due to supply constraints.
Crude oil prices have risen in the last two consecutive weeks with Brent Crude prices rising to their highest level since November. Oil prices are rising as major oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia last week announced the extension of their voluntary supply cuts of 1.3 million barrels per day until the end of this year. G.
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