Wednesday April 02, 2008

India wholesale inflation accelerates to 13-month high of 6.68%

This article belongs to the India inflation watch story arc.

bloomberg.com :

India's inflation accelerated to a 13-month high, constraining the central bank's ability to cut interest rates to arrest an economic slowdown. Wholesale prices rose 6.68% in the week ended March 15 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in New Delhi. The inflation rate has almost doubled since the last week of November, stoked by food and commodity costs. Prices are rising at a time when more than three years of interest-rate increases and a global economic slowdown are threatening to disrupt India's record expansion since 2003.

Crude and edible oils are among India's biggest imports and their costs have risen more than three times since the current government came to power in 2004. The international prices of maize, rice and wheat, staple items of food in India, have either doubled or tripled between 2004 and 2008. To contain prices, the government last month cut import taxes on edible oil for the fifth time in 15 months and stopped exports of wheat, sugar, rice and edible oils.

- My Indian colleagues over here in Singapore have been complaining that they are having difficulties importing even small amounts of wheat and rice for personal consumption from India since the export ban. The trend of producer countries starting to restrict their rice exports is especially worrisome as it will affect well over 2 billion people, mostly in Asia. Inflation is taking off globally and high food prices will hit especially hard.

See also :

1. India inflation crosses 5% to hit a 10-month high
2. Gresham's Law and the Indian coin shortage

Updated :

1. India wholesale inflation rate rises to 11%, a new 13-year high
2. India inflation rate hits 7-year high of 8.75%
3. India wholesale inflation jumps to 7.41%

(2008-04-02 19:58:49 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

Japan core inflation rate hits 10-year high of 1.0% in Feb 2008

channelnewsasia.com :

Japan said Friday [28 Mar 2008] its unemployment rate rose for the first time in five months as core inflation hit the fastest pace in a decade, adding to concerns about the health of Asia's largest economy. Japan's core inflation rate meanwhile accelerated to a year-on-year rate of 1.0% in February, the quickest pace since March 1998, as rising energy and food costs drove up consumer prices, a separate report showed. Core inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, picked up from a pace of 0.8% in January. It was the fifth straight monthly rise in core consumer prices.

The world's second-largest economy has struggled for the past decade to put a decisive end to deflation, which weighed on growth by undermining corporate profits and giving consumers an incentive to wait to spend their money. But analysts warn that the return of inflation is not altogether good news for Japan since it is largely due to soaring prices in oil, raw materials and food, making life tougher for companies and consumers.

- From an inflation blogger's point of view, if you were to put Zimbabwe with its record-breaking inflation at one end of an inflation continuum, then you would have to put Japan with its persistent deflation on the other end. But now Japan's deflation has reversed itself and has transformed into inflation. This is a big deal. The Japan case bears watching.

See also :

1. Japan shows first inflation signs as core CPI rises 0.1%
2. Japan inflation at fastest pace in more than 9 years

(2008-04-02 18:09:40 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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