National News / Retail inflation at 8-year high, reached record 7.79 percent in April

New Delhi. The prices of petrol-diesel, LPG, domestic natural gas, CNG, PNG had increased wildly in April. This raised fears that the rise in prices could trigger inflation. This apprehension proved to be completely true on Thursday when the retail inflation data for April 2022 was released by the government.

According to government data released on Thursday, the consumer price index (CPI) based inflation rose to 7.79 per cent in April. This is the highest level in the last 8 years. Earlier in September 2014, retail inflation touched this level. Due to this, in March last month too, retail inflation had flared up to 6.95 percent.

Food inflation rising

According to the data, the prices of food items have also increased significantly in April. Food inflation this month has risen to 8.38 per cent from 7.68 per cent in March. Food inflation accounts for almost half of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The impact of the sharp jump in the prices of fruits and vegetables at the domestic level, including the rise in the prices of edible oil and cereals at the global level, is visible on the food inflation.

Increased pressure on Reserve Bank

The pressure on the Reserve Bank to control inflation has increased. In the coming days, several rounds of increase in interest rates can be seen by the Reserve Bank. In order to curb inflation, the Reserve Bank had increased the repo rate this month. Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that inflation may flare up in April.

It is estimated that inflation will remain at high level in the financial year 2022-23. Earlier, the Finance Ministry had said in its monthly economic review report that only steps taken by the government and RBI can bring down inflation in the current financial year. The Finance Ministry has said that it will take steps to reduce inflation.