Respite from inflation by year-end: PM
October 20th, 2011 - 12:32 am ICT by IANS
On Board Air India One, Oct 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday assured all steps to tame inflation, but refused to be drawn into the debate whether the central bank should now hit the pause button on rate hikes.
Speaking to reporters on the way back from Pretoria where he attended the 5th India-Brazil-South Africa Summit, the prime minister said he had called a meeting with experts last week to explore ways to moderate inflation.
“By the end of the year I am confident you will see some results.”
With industry growing in spurts, the prime minister — himself a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India — was asked if there should now be a pause on rate hikes after 11 such increases since January last year.
But the prime minister declined direct comment.
“It would not be proper for me to comment on the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank,” he said, adding there was no doubt that there were both demand- and supply-side factors which were at work to create inflationary expectations.
“International environment is also not very helpful. The energy price rise and the fact that the exchange rate in recent weeks has depreciated - that complicates the task of controlling prices.”
(Arvind Padmanabhan can be reached at arvind.p@ians.in)
- Economists divided on impact of rate hikes on India's growth - Sep 20, 2011
- RBI hints at more monetary action to curb inflation - Nov 22, 2011
- India's central bank hikes rates again to fix inflation (Lead) - Nov 02, 2010
- RBI may not hike rates as growth slows (Roundup) - Dec 15, 2011
- Industry hails RBI intent not to hike rates further - Oct 25, 2011
- Non-food items driving inflation: Pranab - May 12, 2011
- RBI may not hike rates as growth slows - Dec 15, 2011
- India's central bank set to present monetary policy - May 03, 2011
- India's central bank infuses more money into system (Lead) - Jan 24, 2012
- India Inc welcomes RBI's decision to pause rate hike - Dec 16, 2011
- No direct link between rate hike and inflation: Pranab - Nov 29, 2011
- Rate hike will bring down inflation to 6 percent: Pranab - Jul 26, 2011
- After petrol prices, higher interest rates set to bite - Sep 16, 2011
- India's central bank infuses more money in system - Jan 24, 2012
- Loans set to pinch more as central bank hikes interest rates (Roundup) - Jul 26, 2011
Tags: africa summit, air india, arvind, bank of india, demand and supply, energy price, inflationary expectations, international environment, manmohan, manmohan singh, moderate inflation, no doubt, padmanabhan, pause button, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, rate hikes, reserve bank of india, spurts, tame inflation