Retail inflation spiked to a five-month high of 5 per cent in June on costlier fuel, despite easing food prices, reducing possibilities of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank in its upcoming monetary policy review.
The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 4.87 per cent in May. It was 1.46 per cent in June 2017. The earlier high was in January this year at 5.07 per cent. As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the inflation in the food basket was 2.91 per cent, compared to 3.1 per cent in May, due to slower rate of price rise articles such as fruits, vegetables and cereals.