The lure of core inflation as a barometer is that headline inflation rates tend to be volatile.
The core inflation rate remains relatively subdued, but headline inflation could still spill into wages and hence other prices.
Mr Lipsky said global growth was slowing but headline inflation was “accelerating”.
He noted the risk that inflation expectations could rise and that sustained high headline inflation - pushed up by energy prices - could unsettle those expectations.
First there is headline inflation, which reflects the cost changes of a basket of goods weighted by the intensity of their use by consumers in the statistical sample.
On the one hand, the pick-up in headline inflation has been largely due to rising prices for food (particularly pork) that are not indicative of more generalised inflationary pressures.
Incentives for policymakers to allow the currency to appreciate could be short-term, amid signs that headline inflation could fall from mid-year and that the trade surplus is peaking.
'We expect the headline inflation rate to ease to below 2% by March end as prices of manufactured products continue to soften,' said Manoranjan Sharma, chief economist at Canara Bank.
