BJP TODAY

September 16--30, 2004 - Vol. 13, No. 18

Inflation rate touches four-year high at 8.17 percent
“Poor management of economy”, says Yashwant Sinha
By our special correspondent

The rate of inflation touched a four-year high in the week ending August 21, 2004, sounding alarm bells in the Government and pushing it to the defensive.

The rate rose from 7.94 in the previous week to 8.17 and two weeks earlier, ending August 7, it had gone up to 7.96 per cent. The rate during the corresponding week ending August 23 in the previous year when the NDA was in power was only 3.82 per cent.

Commenting on this huge rise in the rate of inflation, former Finance and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said that this showed the failure on the part of the UPA government to manage the economy. The NDA had maintained low inflation and low rates of interest on loans, which had resulted in the "housing revolution" in Karnataka, Shri Sinha said in Bangalore on Sept. 4 while courting arrest in connection with the BJP Satyagarahaa against the arrest of Uma Bharati on the issue of unfurling of the national flag at Hubli in August 1954.

In New Delhi, BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the high rate of inflation demonstrated the "lack of vision" on the part of the UPA government.