GMAT Critical Reasoning- Last Year the Rate of Inflation was 1.2 percent, But for the Current Year it has been 4 percent.

Question: Last year the rate of inflation was 1.2 percent, but for the current year it has been 4 percent. We can conclude that inflation is on an upward trend and the rate will be still higher next year.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

(A) The inflation figures were computed on the basis of a representative sample of economic data rather than all of the available data.
(B) Last year a dip in oil prices brought inflation temporarily below its recent stable annual level of 4 percent.
(C) Increases in the pay of some workers are tied to the level of inflation, and at an inflation rate of 4 percent or above, these pay raises constitute a force causing further inflation.
(D) The 1.2 percent rate of inflation last year represented a 10-year low.
(E) Government intervention cannot affect the rate of inflation to any significant degree.

“Last year the rate of inflation was 1.2 percent, but for the current year it has been 4 percent.”- is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT critical comes with five options and candidates need to choose the one which is correct. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. Candidates get 65 minutes to answer 36 MCQ questions in the critical reasoning section of the GMAT.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation: The above problem is a data sufficiency question. The given five options need to be analyzed to find the correct answer. So considering the Last year's inflation to be 1.2% and the current year's inflation of 4%. Hence the conclusion that can be drawn is that the inflation is on an upward trend and the rate will be higher next year. While calculating the future inflation rate the following cases must be considered:

Option A doesn't imply that there may be no upward trend. As long as the figures give an accurate representation, they should be fine.
Option B illustrates that inflation stays stable at 4%. Last year was a "temporary" outlier because of a dip in oil prices. So this year inflation would have been expected to be back at 4%. This means there may be no upward trend. Hence it weakens our conclusion.
Option C signifies that this helps our conclusion that if inflation is at 4%, it will go further up.
Option D illustrates that there might have been a downward slope till last year so the 1.2% inflation was a 10-year low. It looks like the slope has reversed now.
Hence, there is a difference between option B and this one. Option B explains that last year was an outlier due to a "momentary" condition and every year inflation is anticipated to be 4%. So it says that there may be no trend. This option doesn't indicate that there may be no trend. The trend might have rebounded.
Option E is irrelevant here.
Hence, option B is the most appropriate answer.

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