|
India's Inflation Rate Increased Faster Than Expected - 会影响印度人旳年底購金熱潮
India recorded faster-than-expected inflation in the first week of September, adding pressure on the central bank to increase its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time this year.
The wholesale price index prepared by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry rose 4.61 percent in the week ended Sept. 9 from a year ago due to higher costs for food and manufactured products such as textiles and paper. That was more than the median 4.48 percent forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of eight analysts and followed a 4.78 percent gain in the previous week.
India's economy, the fastest growing after China among the world's major economies, is being driven by consumer demand, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Sept. 20, adding that three rate increases this year haven't been able to curb it. The minister's comment suggests the central bank may raise borrowing costs again in its Oct. 31 policy review.
``Inflationary pressures persist in the economy,'' said Sri Prasad Prabhu, a Mumbai-based fixed-income analyst at IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd., which is a primary dealer that underwrites government debt sales. ``We are expecting a 50 basis point increase in rates by the end of January.''
India's industrial production, which accounts for almost a quarter of the country's $775 billion economy, expanded at the fastest pace in a decade in July, the government said Sept. 12. |
|