Last week the monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged. As seen in Chart 1, the repo rate stands at 6.5 percent.The decision to maintain the status quo comes against the backdrop of retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), coming in below expectations.As shown in Chart 2, CPI inflation has declined from 3.7 per cent in September to 3.3 per cent in October. The decline in headline inflation can be traced to the collapse in food inflation, even as core inflation inches upwards (Chart 3).