Govt. Must Curb Inflationary Practices
22 Feb 2007
Congress has once again warned of the necessity to curb official inflationary practices, as new figures showed the annual inflation rate for January rose to 5.2 percent.
This is up from 4.9 percent in December and is the highest level in almost six years.
Congress General Secretary David Begg said the rise represented an "unwelcome trajectory that was fed in no small measure by official inflationary practices. The key question now is: has inflation peaked?"
Mr Begg said there should be immediate action at official level on curbing the inflationary practices. He cited recent electricity price hikes, which were higher than had been sought by the ESB and which had been granted by the Energy Regulator in a bizarre attempt to lure the private sector into the energy generating sector, with the promise of high profits.
"It is significant that the Central Statistics' Office cited electricity as one of the key contributors to this latest inflation increase. We said at the time that a Fuel Variation Charge would have been a better way to reflect changing oil prices, with regard to electricity generation.
"Instead, ideology triumphs over common sense and working people are expected to pay the price. This is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to persist."
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