FM 2 LST

Investments have been the key growth driver in the past
and will continue to be for at least another 10 years,
Mukherjee said.

Suggesting diversification of the export market, he said,
there are some concerns about sustaining the bounce-back seen
in exports in November-December 2009 due to uncertainties
about the recovery in the developed economies.
"Here again we need to re-look at our strategy. We need
to diversify our export markets to recover some of the growth
momentum," he said.
The other concern for the economy is the certain
persistence in the momentum of food prices, which has been in
double digits for several months now, he said.
"On a year-on-year basis, the WPI headline inflation in
December 2009 was 7.3 per cent but for the food items it was
19.8 per cent. Thus, unlike the first half of 2008-09 when
global cost-push factors resulted in the WPI inflation
touching nearly 13 per cent, with inflation in primary and
manufactured products just below the overall average," he
said.
The upsurge in prices in the second half of 2009-10 has
been confined mainly to food items only. The weekly food
inflation for February 13 is around 17.58 per cent and that
for fuel, power light and lubricants is 9.89 per cent, he
said.
"A significant part of this inflation can be explained by
supply side bottlenecks in some of the essential commodities,
precipitated by the delayed and sub-normal south-west
monsoons," he added. PTI DP
MRD


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