LD INFLATION 3LAST

Despite food inflation moderating a wee bit, potatoes
rose over 70 per cent during the week ended January two,
onions and pulses over 45 per cent each and cereals by over 14
per cent.

"Week-on-week it (food inflation) is down, which is a
very good (sign). There are a whole lot of measures that are
going through that have been decided on," Chief Economic
Advisor Kaushik Basu said.
Earlier, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh
Ahluwalia had also said that food inflation would ease next
month as fear of negative impact of poor monsoon on farm
produce has eased.
To increase the availability of sugar, the government
Wednesday relaxed the norms for processing of raw sugar and
allowed duty-free import of white sugar till December-end.
A host of decisions, including selling of 2-3 million
tonnes of wheat and rice in the open market over the next two
months and asking state-owned trading firms to intensify
import of pulses, was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet
Committee on Prices chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh on Wednesday.
Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said that
the Prime Minister would convene a Chief Ministers' meeting in
the last week of this month to discuss price situation and
take stern action against hoarders.
These steps, he had said, "would definitely impact the
price situation... Prices would come down in 4 to 8 days." PTI
BSP
RBT


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