Retail inflation spikes to 7-month high of 3.05% in May

New Delhi: Retail inflation spiked to a seven-month high of 3.05 percent in May mainly due to costlier food items, government data showed Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation for April was revised marginally upwards to 2.99 percent from the earlier estimate of 2.92 percent, data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed.

Retail inflation stood at 4.87 percent in May 2018.

The previous high was in October 2018, when the retail inflation print came in at 3.38 percent.

As per the data, inflation in the food basket rose to 1.83 percent in May, higher than 1.1 percent in April.

Retail inflation is a crucial data point, keenly watched by the Reserve Bank while deciding its monetary policy.