March high inflation rate due to Russia-Ukraine conflict, says government
March inflation: In March 2021, the government had registered a WPI of 7.89 per cent, according to the official figures.
The high rate of inflation in March “is primarily due to the rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, basic metals owing to the disruption in (the) global supply chain caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” the government has said. India’s wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) rose to a four-month high of 14.55 per cent in March, the latest government data showed.In March 2021, the government had registered a WPI of 7.89 per cent, according to the official figures. The “month over month” change in the WPI index for March stood at 2.69 per cent as compared to February, the official statement said.
The prices of crude petroleum and natural gas (21.18 per cent), minerals (9.72 per cent) and non-food articles (2.94 per cent) increased in March as compared to February, it added, underlining that the prices of food articles declined in March as compared to February.In the fuel and power category, the index increased by 5.68 per cent to 146.9 (provisional) in March from 139.0 (provisional) for the month of February.The global economy was seeing “tectonic shifts” from the Ukraine war and extreme volatility in commodity and financial markets, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had said earlier this month as he revealed that the key interest rates – the lending and the borrowing rate – had remain unchanged for the 11th time in a row. “We are confronted with new but humongous challenges. Shortage in key commodities, fractures in international financial architecture and fear of de-globalisation. Extreme volatility characterizes commodity and financial markets,” he had said.The Ukraine war has entered the eighth week despite sanctions to mount global pressure on Russia.Amid a global supply crunch, US natural gas prices surged to the highest intraday level in over 13 years, topping January’s short squeeze-fueled rally, according to a Bloomberg report.
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