The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Decline in inflation

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Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
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Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Decline in inflation

The editorial “Inflation not the only concern” (Nov. 18) rightly points out that for the common man more relevant than the Wholesale Price Index are the monthly consumer price indices, which show that the prices of essential commodities have not come down. Although inflation is a reliable index of macroeconomic health, it often fails to reflect the situation on the ground. A rise in prices is immediately passed on to the bottom of the pyramid by retailers while a decline takes a lot more time to percolate.

Ranjeeth Dasineni,

Bangalore

It was good to hear about the sharp fall in inflation. But it may bring comfort to the Finance Ministry, not the common man. When inflation rises, the prices of all commodities go up. But when inflation falls, the prices remain the same. Ministry officials may explain this saying there are too many items in the WPI basket. Does a middle class family buy steel, aluminium, and iron ore, whose prices have come down, every day? What it buys are rice, pulses and vegetables.

The common man is more interested in knowing when the prices of these will reduce. A separate food price index on a weekly basis may be more relevant and useful to him.

H. Raviraj,

Bangalore

All those who claimed credit when the economy was healthy and growing should be willing to take the blame when the going is bad. The economy does not have a free will; it goes where it is taken. Those who have been guiding our economy all these years cannot get away blaming the slowdown on reasons beyond their control.

K. Vijayakumar,

Bangalore

For quite some time, there has been a steady growth in the global economy culminating in an economic boom. Now it is the turn of recession. The only option available to the countries is to manage the period of recession through effective economic policies keeping at bay the speculative factor.

C. Petson Peter,

Kochi

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