'Inflation will be high for another 4 months'

New Delhi, May 23: The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council on Friday expressed confidence that inflation will dip to 5.5 per cent by the end of current fiscal, although it will remain high for another four months.

"As it stands now, for another four months, inflation will remain high even though it would show a tendency to decline at around 6 per cent. Inflation may reach even 5.5 per cent by end of this fiscal," C Rangarajan ,Chairman of the Council said in a seminar on the 13th Finance Commission. There is a limit to oil bonds for compensating losses for Public Sector oil marketing companies, due to rising global crude prices .Some adjustment in the retail prices is called for at some particular point, he added .

Terming industrial growth of three per cent in March 2008, as a 'blip', he was hopeful of high industrial production in subsequent months and said that economy could expand by around 8 per cent in the current fiscal.

"We still think the overall growth rate during 2008-09 could be around close to 8 per cent. Accordingly, industrial production will be little higher than that," he said.

ANI