Food inflation may soon drop below 3 percent, says Kaushik Basu
December 14th, 2011 - 4:10 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS) With food inflation showing a continuous decline in the past few weeks, Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry, Kaushik Basu Wednesday said it could fall to below 3 percent within a month.
“I do expect the food inflation to come down below 3 percent within a month,” Basu said at the Delhi Economics Conclave organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
Basu is also the head of a panel appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to suggest ways to bring down inflation.
Latest data showed food inflation falling to a 39-month low to 6.6 percent for the week ended Nov 30.
Headline inflation also dipped marginally to 9.11 percent in November, but still remains above the comfort level of the government, according to data released by the commerce ministry Wednesday.
The decline in food inflation would give the much needed relief to common people and the policymakers who have been struggling for almost the last two years to control the general price rise.
Basu said policymakers now needed to give growth a boost, especially in the wake of the global economic uncertainty and domestic industrial output going into the negative.
“We need to pull out of the industrial slowdown as soon as possible,” Basu said.
- Rising interest rates affect industrial output, lowest in over 2 years - Nov 11, 2011
- Inflation will remain at same level: Pranab - Apr 17, 2012
- India's industrial output up 6.8 percent in January (Lead) - Mar 12, 2012
- Food inflation slips sharply to 4.35 percent - Dec 15, 2011
- As factory output shrinks, India Inc. demands lower interest rates (Roundup) - Dec 12, 2011
- Inflation will come down to 6-7 percent by March: Mukherjee - Feb 01, 2012
- India to grow faster in 2012-13: Kaushik Basu - Jan 31, 2012
- Food inflation to dip from December-end: Economic advisor - Nov 04, 2011
- Inflation falls to two-year low of 7.47 percent (Lead) - Jan 16, 2012
- Industrial output rises 5.9 percent in November (Lead) - Jan 12, 2012
- Inflation rises to 6.95 percent in February - Mar 14, 2012
- Indian economy hit by high inflation, slowing growth (2011 in Retrospect) - Dec 28, 2011
- India Inc welcomes RBI's decision to pause rate hike - Dec 16, 2011
- Economic growth falls to 3-year low at 6.1 percent (Roundup) - Feb 29, 2012
- India's factory output slows further in May - Jul 12, 2011
Tags: commerce ministry, common people, conclave, confederation of indian industry, continuous decline, economic advisor, economics, finance ministry, global economic uncertainty, headline inflation, industrial slowdown, kaushik basu, manmohan, manmohan singh, New Delhi, policymakers, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh