Mukherjee terms 10 percent food inflation disturbing

New Delhi, Sep 1 (ANI): With food inflation clawing its way up to the double-digit mark after a gap of five months, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee termed inflation a matter of concern on Thursday, and said the government would have to improve supply constraints to deal with rising prices.

"Food inflation has gone up and now its is ten percent. This is really disturbing. Of course, these weekly figures are unpredictable; particularly certain groups of food items have increased. Inflation is always a matter of concern and we shall have to ensure and improve the supply constraints," Mukherjee told mediapersons here.

Food prices rose at 10.05 per cent for the week ended August 20, as onion, fruits, vegetables and protein-based items turned more expensive.

Meanwhile, Dr. C Rangarajan, Chairman Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, however, expressed hope that food inflation will come down in the coming weeks.

"There is a slight increase in the food inflation, according to the latest numbers. I have not examined it in detail but one had expected that the food inflation will keep coming down. I still believe that the food inflation will come down, as the monsoon has been good," said Dr. Rangarajan.

"We have almost hit the end of the monsoon and therefore all indications are that the agricultural production will be good during this year. I expect the food inflation to come down in the coming weeks," he added.

Dr. Rangarajan, who is also a noted economist, further said: "The rise in the food inflation in the current week has been due to some special factors. There have been some states in which truck operators have been on strike. Some of these could have also have contributed to the increase in food inflation."

Prices of onion soared by 57.01 percent year-on-year, while that of potato by 13.31 per cent during the week under review. Fruits became dearer by 21.58 per cent and vegetables overall by 15.78 on an annual basis.

The prices of egg, meat and fish were up 12.62 per cent, while milk and cereals became dearer by 9.22 per cent and 4.64 per cent, respectively. However, pulses became cheaper by 4.16 per cent and wheat by 2.52 per cent year-on-year. (ANI)