Chidambaram promises more steps to check inflation

P ChidambaramNew Delhi, June : Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said that the Central Government and the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) would take more measures to curb inflation.

After meeting RBI Governor Y V Reddy, Chidambaram said that the Government would take all possible steps to control inflationary conditions and people should not panic in the situation.

Price management will be a priority in a trade-off between growth and inflation, he added.

Chidambaram also met Congress President Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath today to apprise her of the steps that were being taken to tackle inflation.

He met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday night for discussing the issue.

The RBI is expected to make use of the monetary policy to control inflation.

The inflation reached a 13-year high of 11.05 percent for the week ended June 7 on Friday.

Measured by the wholesale price index, it stood at 8.75 per cent in the previous week.

Oil price hike and rising prices of food items have contributed to inflation.

For the 17th consecutive week, inflation rate has been above 5.5 per cent.

This is the highest level of inflation during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. The annual inflation rate for the week ended August 28, 2004, was 8.74 per cent.

On June 4, the Central Government upped the price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre and that of diesel by Rs 3 a litre. The price of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder was increased by Rs 50. Price of kerosene was left untouched. (ANI)

People: 
Regions: