New Delhi: According to government data, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation for April 2022 is 7.79 percent higher than 6.95 percent in March this year and 4.23 percent in April last year.
Retail inflation has reached a 19-month high of 7.79 percent, surpassing the previous high of 7.61 percent in October 2020. According to government figures released on Thursday, rising fuel and food prices are driving up inflation.
For the fourth month in a row, consumer price-based inflation remained significantly above the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) upper tolerance range. The RBI has been instructed by the government to target retail inflation between 2% and 6%.
Food inflation, which accounts for over half of the CPI basket, hit a multi-month high in April this year and is expected to stay high due to rising vegetable and cooking oil costs around the world. When making its bi-monthly policy decision, the RBI primarily examines retail inflation.
Sunil Kumar Sinha, India Ratings and Research's Principal Economist, stated, "Based oncurrent trends, average inflation in FY23 will be closer to 7%, peaking in September 2022 before dropping significantly. In May 2022, the RBI raised the repo rate by 40 basis points and the CRR by 50 basis points. India Ratings forecasts monetary tightening to continue in FY23, with repo rates rising by 60-75 basis points and the CRR rising by 50 basis points. India Ratings, on the other hand, feels that future rate hikes will be data-dependent."
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