Business & Economy

India’s inflation rate drops to 6.44 percent in February

New Delhi, Mar 13 (EFE).- India’s consumer price index stood at 6.44 percent in February, remaining above the tolerance band despite a marginal drop, authorities said on Monday.

The figure is almost four decimal points higher than the results for February 2022, when the index stood at 6.07 percent, despite declining from the 6.52 percent inflation rate registered in January, according to provisional estimates by the Indian ministry of statistics.

Fuel prices rose 9.9 percent year-on-year, while prices of food – which represent almost 40 percent of the CPI – rose by 6.26 percent compared to last year.

The sustained inflation in India has continuously remained above the tolerance band of 2 to 6 percent laid down by the Reserve Bank of India for the ongoing fiscal year ending in March.

Last month, the RBI raised its key lending rates for the sixth time in the row, announcing a 0.25 percent increase to take the base interest rate to 6.5 percent, as part of an attempt to reign in inflation for the next financial year.

The Indian economy grew at 4.4 percent in the third quarter – between October and December 2022 – and the government expects to post a 7 percent growth rate for the current financial year, driven by private consumption and investment.

The growth projection is lower than the 9.1 percent post-pandemic growth posted by the economy in 2021-2022. EFE

daa/ia

Related Articles

Back to top button