MUMBAI, India (AP) India's stubbornly high inflation rose to 7 percent in October, the highest level in eight months despite efforts by the central bank to rein in prices by hiking interest rates.
Government figures released Thursday showed that prices for food were up 18.2 percent, with vegetables leaping by 78.4 percent. Fuel prices were also sharply up in October, rising 10.3 percent.
Higher prices for food and fuel hit the hundreds of millions of poor Indians living on $2 per day particularly hard because they spend roughly half of their income on the staple items.
The new chief of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan, has made battling inflation one of his top priorities since taking office two months ago, hiking the key interest rate twice since September to its current 7.75 percent.
In addition to high inflation, India is also suffering its slowest economic growth in a decade. The economy expanded 4.4 percent in the April-June quarter, far below the 8 percent rate the country averaged a few years ago.