Crores of families facing ‘true hardships’ from ‘unabated increase’ in prices of essential commodities: Cong

Hitting out at the government, the Congress on Friday said concerns on inflation continue to be serious and claimed that crores of families were facing ”true hardships” from ”unabated increase” in prices of essential commodities.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s attack on the government came after the Reserve Bank of India on Friday decided to keep the policy rate unchanged for the fourth time in a row.

In a post on X, Ramesh said, ”The RBI has maintained the Repo Rate — the interest rate it charges for borrowings by commercial banks from it — at 6.5%. This simply means that concerns on inflation continue to be serious.” ”For 47 months, the Consumer Price Index(CPI) has remained well over the RBI’s own medium-term target of 4%. In August 2023, the CPI stood at 6.83%,” the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said.

”This of course masks the true hardships being faced by crores upon crores of families from unabated increase in prices of essential commodities,” Ramesh said.

Announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy on Friday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent.

The MPC meeting took place against the backdrop of Consumer Price-based Inflation (CPI) touching 6.83 per cent in August. The September print of inflation is expected next week.

The government has mandated the RBI to keep CPI inflation at four per cent with a margin of two per cent on either side. The Congress has been attacking the government over its handling of the economy and raising concerns over increasing unemployment and a rise in household prices.