Amid all the anxieties in a time of inflation came a moment of brief reassurance, or at least the pretence of it. On May 12, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) issued a routine Monthly Economic Report, advising a “longer time horizon” in which to view the problem. According to this report, and contrary to lived experience, inflation during the past financial year ran lower than before. And all the current threats on the horizon could easily be mitigated through timely action by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).