Consumer price inflation surged more than double to 7.28 percent during mid-March and mid-April

Kathmandu / May 11: The consumer price inflation during the one-month period from mid-March to mid-April increased more than double this year compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, owing to a surge in the prices of overall food and non-food items and services.

According to a nine-month report on ‘Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal’ unveiled by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Wednesday, the consumer price index increased by 7.28 percent compared to 3.10 percent during the review period. The report shows that food and beverage inflation stood at 7.40 percent whereas the consumer price index of non-food and service rose by 7.18 percent.

Recently, traders have hiked market prices of most of the goods, notably in pretext of the disruption in supply chain caused by ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. However, traders have been blamed also for raising price of products citing the local elections to be held on Friday, to gain undue benefits at the cost of living expenses of the general people.

According to the NRB report, prices of ghee and oil increased by 28.36 percent, milk products and eggs increased by 11.56 percent and pulses and legumes increased by 10.53 percent. Likewise, the price of transportation increased 20.16 percent and that of education increased by 8.79 percent.

During the last month, the mountain region witnessed a price hike of 8.25 percent, the largest of all. Price inflation in the hilly region was recorded at 7.79 percent while those in Tarai and Kathmandu Valley were 7.61 percent and 6.25 percent respectively.