Economic Scenario: Inflation dips to 3-month low; exports rise by 25.67% to USD 27.03 billion

NewsBharati    17-Jan-2018
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New Delhi, January 17: The economic revival is the greatest achievement of PM Modi’s government. The Country's exports grew by 12.36 percent in December, 2017 to 27.03 billion US dollars on account of strong performance by sectors like engineering goods and petroleum products.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, exports have been on a positive trajectory since August 2016 to December 2017 with a dip of 1.1 percent in the month of October last year.

Imports during the month, posted a sharper rise of 21.12 per cent to $41.91 billion led by gold, silver, precious stones, petroleum and electronic goods. This widened the trade deficit to $14.88 billion in December 2017 compared to $10.54 billion in December 2016.

Other sectors which registered a growth in exports include pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery and organic and inorganic chemicals. Sectors which have suffered a decline in exports include readymade garments, iron ore and oilseeds. Total exports for the period April-December 2017-18 were $223.51 billion, which was 12.05 per cent higher than exports in the comparable period of the previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, Inflation based on wholesale prices came down to a three-month low of 3.58 percent in December last year. This was due to a decline in the prices of food articles even as fuel cost witnessed a surge.

As per government data released, inflation on food articles slowed to 4.72 percent in December, from 6.06 percent in November. This Calculated on the basis of Wholesale Price Index, inflation was 3.93 percent in November.

The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from Manufactured Products group decreased from 4.10% in November, 2017 to 2.91% in December, 2017.