Prices of essential commodities to come down: FM

New Delhi, Feb 8: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today expressed confidence that prices of essential commodities would start declining soon due to augmentation of supplies and demand side management.

Mr Chidambaram said that certain items like sugar have been put on the Open General License (OGL) to ensure that prices do not spurt.

The Finance Minister infact said prices of sugar have already come down by Rs 2 to Rs 2.50.

He said the prices of wheat were expected to decline following arrival of fresh stocks in the mandis.

Mr Chidambaram said the RBI was following a policy of tight money supply and was keeping a close watch on the money supply situation as also prices. As a precautionary measure it has also increased the risk weightage of certain sectors like real estate.

The Ministry of Agriculture as well as the Ministry of Consumer Affairs were keeping a tab on the supply of primary and other commodities.

He said the government will deploy both fiscal policy and monetary policy Measures to curb price rise.

The Finance Minister cited figures to show that inflation rate had been kept under control in the recent past.

UNI