The report noted inflation rate of 8.16 percent in rural J&K and 6.05 percent in the urban J&K. PTI photo
Srinagar: After hogging headlines for housing the highest number of unemployed population, Jammu and Kashmir has now recorded the highest inflation rate as per the latest National Statistical Office (NSO) report.
According to the report, the erstwhile state registered an inflation rate of 7.39 percent for the month of September.
The report noted an inflation rate of 8.16 percent in rural J&K and6.05 percent in urban J&K.
The erstwhile state is preceded by the states of Telangana (7.07 percent), Karnataka (5.90 percent), Himachal Pradesh (6.01 percent) and Andhra Pradesh (5.66 percent).
The national average Inflation rate, the report noted, was recorded at 4.35 percent for the month of September.
Notably, this is for the fourth consecutive month (June-September quarter) that the inflation rate in J&K is recorded above 7 percent.
In the given four month quarter, the highest inflation rate in J&K was recorded in the month of July at 7.81 percent.
Notably, as per the Federal Reserve Banks (FRB), an acceptable inflation rate should be around 2 percent or a bit below.
“The Federal Reserve has not established a formal inflation target, but policymakers generally believe that an acceptable inflation rate is around 2 percent or a bit below,” the FRB has said on its official website.
Reacting to J&K’s red hot inflation, Kashmir’s noted economist Ejaz Ayoub said, “While all India average eased at 4.35, there’s no respite for J&K which is already grappling with a backbreaking unemployment ratio of 21.6%.”
Pertinently, J&K is already going through a severe unemployment rate of 21.6 percent that is the highest unemployment rate in India.
Though J&K’s unemployment rate, as per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), has witnessed a decline since January 2021 till June 2021, it took an ugly turn in the month of September when it surpassed the national average of unemployment rate of 6.86 percent.
The report has also revealed that the unemployment rate in J&K was highest among the women compared to the men.