High inflationary regime not acceptable, says Pranab

New Delhi, June 23: Attributing the latest jump in food inflation mainly to rising prices of protein-based items, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today (Jun 23) said the high inflationary regime was not acceptable and efforts would be made to bring it down.

"... We are in region of high inflationary regime, which is not acceptable. It will have to be brought down," Mukherjee told reporters here while commenting on food inflation, which touched two-and-half-month high of 9.13 per cent for the week ended June 11.

Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 8.96 per cent during the previous week. It was almost 23 per cent during the second week of June, 2010.

"Detailed analysis of food items indicate that it is substantially contributed by the milk products, poultry products, fish and certain other items," Mukherjee said.

The minister, however, expressed satisfaction that inflation in overall primary articles came down during the week.

"On the whole, the figures are not satisfactory... but not disappointing in the sense that the WPI primary articles have come down from 12.86 per cent to 12.62 per cent," the Finance Minister said, adding that cereal prices have also moderated during the week.

Primary articles have a share of over 20 per cent in the overall WPI basket.

Referring to the non-food items, Mukherjee said they have "been steadily declining from 23.82 per cent just a month back... every subsequent week from May 7 to June 11 it has steadily declined. That is one important aspect."

PTI