February 17: At a time when the government has been saying it will keep inflation under control, a survey conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has forecast inflation will continue to rise.

The general public is of the view that the prices are going up, shows the Inflation Expectations Survey conducted by NRB from January 5 to 11.  NRB carried out the survey to understand the expectations of the general public on the inflation during the second quarter of FY 2078/79.

According to a survey report released by the NRB on Wednesday, 97.1 percent of the respondents said that the inflation rate will increase over the next one year period. The respondents said the average inflation rate would reach 11.4 percent in the next year. Earlier, the average inflation rate was expected to reach 11 percent in the survey conducted in January 2020 and 10.3 percent in the survey conducted in September 2021.

Prakash Kumar Shrestha, executive director of the NRB's research department, said the research was based on an assessment of what the future holds based on the current situation and that he felt inflation was rising.

NRB has been conducting an inflation survey since last year to understand the expectations of the public about the inflation rate. He said that this would make it easier for the government to understand the expectations of the people and decide the policy in the coming days accordingly.

"It's just an indication of what the general public thinks about inflation," Shrestha said.

According to the report, the number of people expecting inflation to rise is increasing.

According to a study conducted in September 2021, 87 percent of the general public had expected inflation to increase in just three months, but in December, the number of those expecting it reached 91.1 percent.

Similarly, the general public is expecting the highest increase in food prices.

Inflation is has been rising in the current Fiscal Year (FY) due to a lack of liquidity in banks and financial institutions.

The government has set a target of keeping the inflation rate within 6 percent in the current fiscal year. However, the inflation rate reached 7.11 percent in November. In January, the inflation rate has come down to 5.65 percent.