UPA Report Card on completion of 4 Years.
- 5 years ago
Delhi : For a man who prides himself as being the "original reformer", PM Manmohan Singh did not mention the word "reforms" even once in his speech on the ninth anniversary of UPA. And, it was only once that he talked of inflation.
It was hardly surprising given that reforms do not seem to be on his radar in view of the tough political environment and inflation is something that he would avoid talking about given the coalition's track record.
After all, for seven of the nine years that UPA has spent in office, retail inflation, measured by consumer price index for industrial workers, has remained over 6%. Economists would tell you that 6% inflation based on CPI is not as bad as 6% inflation based on wholesale prices. It gets worrisome if it is 7-8%, they say.
In UPA's second term, even 7-8% CPI-based inflation would appear moderate given that it has remained in double digits during three of the last four years. Since January 2012, when the combined consumer price index-based inflation was introduced, prices have increased by at least 7.5%, if nor more and for the past 14 months has remained between 9.4% and 10.9%.
It was hardly surprising given that reforms do not seem to be on his radar in view of the tough political environment and inflation is something that he would avoid talking about given the coalition's track record.
After all, for seven of the nine years that UPA has spent in office, retail inflation, measured by consumer price index for industrial workers, has remained over 6%. Economists would tell you that 6% inflation based on CPI is not as bad as 6% inflation based on wholesale prices. It gets worrisome if it is 7-8%, they say.
In UPA's second term, even 7-8% CPI-based inflation would appear moderate given that it has remained in double digits during three of the last four years. Since January 2012, when the combined consumer price index-based inflation was introduced, prices have increased by at least 7.5%, if nor more and for the past 14 months has remained between 9.4% and 10.9%.