KATHMANDU, June 14: Consumer inflation stood at 3.65 percent in the first ten months of the current fiscal year due to a spike in prices of edible oil and meat in particular.
According to ‘Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal’ released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Monday, the year-on-year inflation measured in consumer price index (CPI) was moderated by 2.18 percent compared to 5.83 percent during the same period last year. While the food and beverage inflation stood at 4.72 percent, non-food and service inflation stood at 2.81 percent.
Inflation last year eased to 3.6 percent despite notable rise i...
The rise in the CPI has been mainly attributed to the soaring prices of edible ghee, edible oils, meat and fish in the past few months. The NRB report shows that the prices of ghee and oil rose by a whopping 28.20 percent, while the prices of meat and fish rose to 17.12 percent. Likewise, non-alcoholic beverage and tobacco products were expensive by 9.85 percent and 9.84 percent respectively.
According to NRB officials, the prices of edible oils increased mainly due to the soaring price of raw materials in the international market. Nepal imports almost all the oilseed to maintain its supply in the domestic market.
The inflation in the Kathmandu Valley subdued to 3.62 percent from 5.71 percent during the review period a year ago. The inflation in terai was down to 3.51 percent from 6.35 percent. While the inflation in the hills stood at 4.14 percent, down from 5.11 percent, this declined to 1.33 percent from 5.19 percent in the mountain region.
