‘Inflation is the biggest challenge now’
The HinduInflation is now the biggest challenge for India’s policy makers rather than the U.S. Federal Reserve’s taper programme and measures like interest rate increases to stem rising prices could dent the fledgling consumption demand recovery from the pandemic not just in India but globally, a senior official said on Wednesday. “The nearly 7% inflation print for March came four days after the RBI review, then came Indonesia’s decision to ban edible oil exports and the escalation in sunflower oil and coal supply constraints. “All central banks are going to do their best to drive inflation down but, in the process, they run the risk of driving down whatever little demand is there, post-pandemic,” the official said. “Currently, the inflationary forces that are hitting us and the rest of the world are outside everyone’s hands and three quarters of the items in our Consumer Price Index are at risk due to the war in Ukraine, so the room for doing too much is limited,” the official said.