The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday asserted that the Government was not indulging in growth promotion at the cost of inflation.

He refuted charges of the Opposition that the Government was too obsessed with growth.

Replying to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on price rise situation in the country, Mr Mukherjee said that there was no correlation between economic growth and inflation.

“Even in years of low growth, we have seen high inflation. Please don't mix the two. We shall have to contain inflation and we will have to go for growth”, he said. Later, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the leading Opposition party, staged a walkout as it was not convinced with the Finance Minister's reply. The Finance Minister also highlighted that food inflation, which had touched 22 per cent in February 2010, had come down to 6.6 per cent for the week ended November 25, 2011.

Mr Mukherjee said that the overall inflation situation was a matter of concern, but the Government was committed to tackling the problem. The overall inflation has remained above 9 per cent since December last year. While inflation was 9.73 per cent in October 2011, it was 9.72 per cent in September.

“The overall inflation is close to double-digits. I am not happy. We have to try to bring it back to much lower level. It has to be settled at 5-6 per cent on a sustainable basis,” Mr Mukherjee said.

> krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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