Every person is troubled by inflation, but its worst hit is on the poor people. In recent times, the prices of all items ranging from food items have increased. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman blamed the rising inflation on supply chain being affected due to seasonal factors. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said seasonal supply-side issues have pushed up inflation and it is being closely monitored along with efforts to bring down prices of essential commodities.

fuel inflation a concern

Sitharaman also mentioned the efforts to bring down the cost of fuel and natural gas. he/she said that these are imported in the country and due to Kovid and Russia-Ukraine war, fuel prices are high in the global markets. he/she told a press conference here, “The Prime Minister had directed us to cut the excise duty on fuel itself in November 2021.” Due to this an announcement was made during Diwali. After that in June, 2022 again we cut the excise duty. All these factors softened the fuel prices to some extent.

When will inflation come down

Responding to questions about inflation and measures to bring it down, the Finance Minister said, “But when we talk about fuel or natural gas, we need to understand one thing. These products are imported and especially with the covid pandemic and the subsequent Russia-Ukraine war, prices have shot up and imports continue. At the center level, we have cut excise duty to bring down its price.

Government’s close watch on inflation

The Finance Minister said that the Group of Ministers monitors the availability of essential goods and their prices. Additional stock was issued as per the situation. “When the price of rice shot up, we released rice from the buffer stock.” Sitharaman said, “The central government is continuously taking steps to bring down the prices. This is the reason that consumer price index based inflation has come down from 6 per cent to 5.8 per cent. Inflation has increased due to supply-related problems at the seasonal level, which is being continuously monitored and measures are being taken to bring it down.

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