The central bank has informed that inflation rate has increased by a staggering 7.6 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Earlier, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had revised inflation rate for the current fiscal year and projected it at 6.6 percent from an earlier projection of 6 percent citing price increase in major food items and petroleum products. Speaking at a programme 'Mid-term Review of Monetary Policy 2006/07' in Kathmandu on Wednesday, Executive Director of the central bank Ram Prasad Adhikari informed that economic growth would slow down this year and projected the revised growth at 3.8 percent from the previous projection of five percent. The NRB has blamed this poor projection on the worse performance by agriculture sector due to a sharp decline in paddy production. According to the NRB, Nepal’s trade deficit continues to widen and crossed Rs 52.72 billion during the review period.