Saturday, March 08, 2008

Inflation, a big worry. Breaches 5% mark for the first time in 10 months.


If u thought that essential commodities price like rice, wheat,cereals will come down then your wrong.Get ready for a big price rise ahead in the next few months.Wholesale price-based inflation raced past RBI’s tolerance level to scale a 10-month high of 5.02% in the week ended February 23. Inflation shot up sharply due to higher prices of food, textiles and machinery. Inflation was at 6.2% in the corresponding week last year. The continuing rise in inflation makes its difficult for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reduce interest rates. The latest inflation figure is above the 4.1%-level projected in the Economic Survey for 2007-08. Inflation is inching up while the economy is growing a shade slower than the impressive 9.3% recorded in the first quarter of the fiscal. Sensing the trend, the government has reiterated its commitment to ensure “growth with price stability” even as the economy grew at 8.4% in the third quarter. Inflation ruled at a nine-month high of 4.89% in the previous week as the data captured, for the first time, the increase in petro products announced on February 14.