High inflationary regime not acceptable: Pranab

Attributing the latest jump in food inflation mainly to rising prices of protein-based items, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has said the high inflationary regime is not acceptable and efforts would be made to bring it down.

“... We are in a region of high inflationary regime, which is not acceptable. It will have to be brought down,” Mr Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here today while commenting on food inflation, which touched a two-and-half-month high of 9.13 per cent for the week ended June 11.

Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 8.96 per cent during the previous week. It stood at almost 23 per cent during the second week of June 2010.

“Detailed analysis of food items indicates that it is substantially contributed by milk products, poultry products, fish and certain other items,” the Finance Minister said.

The minister, however, expressed satisfaction that inflation in overall primary articles came down during the week.

“On the whole, the figures are not satisfactory... but not disappointing in the sense that the WPI primary articles have come down from 12.86 per cent to 12.62 per cent,” the Finance Minister said, adding that cereal prices have also moderated during the week.

Primary articles have a share of over 20 per cent in the overall WPI basket. Referring to the non-food items, Mr Pranab Mukherjee said they have “been steadily declining from 23.82 per cent just a month back... every subsequent week from May 7 to June 11 it has steadily declined. That is one important aspect.”

As per the WPI data, inflation in non-food primary articles declined from 23.82 per cent for the week ended May 7 to 18.43 per cent during the reporting week.

Fruits and milk became dearer by 28.66 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively, during the week ended June 11. The other items which became more expensive during the week were onions (11.89 per cent), eggs, meat and fish (10.56 per cent), cereals (4.32 per cent) and potatoes (0.71 per cent).

However, the prices of pulses, wheat and vegetables went down during the week. While pulses became 10.34 per cent cheaper, wheat was down 1 per cent and vegetables 9.27 per cent.

Overall, inflation of primary articles stood at 12.62 per cent during the period under review down from 12.86 per cent in the previous week.

Meanwhile, inflation of non-food primary articles stood at 18.43 per cent for the week ended June 11 against 20.20 per cent during the previous week.

Fibres grew more expensive by 43.77 per cent and minerals by 25.90 per cent. Fuel and power became dearer by 12.84 per cent and petrol was up 33.23 per cent year-on-year.