New Delhi, Dec 18 (IANS) Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here Friday amid concern over spiralling food inflation.
After the meeting, Subbarao said he largely discussed macro-economic issues with the finance minister.

“I have come for a routine meeting with the finance minister. When I meet the finance minister I discuss the macro-economic situation,” Subbarao told reporters after the meeting.

During the day, Mukherjee tabled the mid-year fiscal review for 2009-10 in parliament, which predicted overall economic expansion to exceed 7.75 percent during the year.

At the same time, rising food prices are increasingly becoming a worry for the government, which is now trying to balance between growth and inflation.

The mid-year fiscal review lists the government’s concerns and high on that list is rising prices, notably in such items of everyday consumption like potatoes, onions, cereals and pulses, that have seen the country’s annual food inflation balloon nearly 20 percent.

“The rise in the prices of primary articles of consumption of the common man that has been occurring in recent times is, indeed, a cause of concern. This needs to be attended on an urgent basis,” the review said.

The annual rate of inflation based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI) for the month of November was up 4.78 percent, according to data released recently, while the food prices alone have risen by around 20 percent in the last one year.