Global food prices are at the highest in more than 6 years, driven by a jump in the cost of everything because of demand from China, vulnerable supply chains and adverse weather.
Year-on-year method misses trends in prices, so month-to-month seasonal adjustment should be used. According to this, May-December avg inflation was 4.05%.
According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, food inflation declined to 3.41% in December in 2020, compared to 9.5% in November.
Inflation, highest since May 2014, rose both on account of food inflation and core inflation. Economists expect a prolonged pause in rate cuts by the RBI.
The sudden emergence of supply strains has come as a blow to the global economy which has been struggling to regain its footing after the shock of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Focusing on core prices — which strips out volatile food & fuel costs — instead of the retail consumer prices carries the risk of under-predicting inflation.
Our brand of socialism did not result in transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor but only from the honest rich to the dishonest rich, lawyer-jurist Nani A Palkhivala said in 1991.
Finance ministry says the proposed revamp will focus on structural reforms, rate rationalisation & ease of living, & will be deliberated upon in the coming weeks.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
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