New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that inflation was largely under control despite soaring prices of crude oil and food commodities. "We have managed to keep inflation under control in the face of many difficulties," Singh told a party plenary in New Delhi, the first in nearly two years.
Singh underscored that the international price of crude oil had jumped to nearly $100 per barrel from $35 since the Congress-led government took power three-and-a-half years ago. India imports 70 per cent of its crude oil needs. "Global prices of food grains, pulses and edible oil have seen a sharp rise.
Our endeavour has been to shield the poor and vulnerable sections from the effect of this rise," he said. "We have been quite successful in this regard," he added. "The Wholesale Price Index is rising by around 3-4 per cent, which is the lowest in the last 20 years."
Government data released on Friday showed wholesale price inflation in the 12 months to November 3 above the previous week's five-year low of 2.97 per cent. Despite the rise, inflation has now been below the central bank's fiscal year estimate of 5 per cent for 22 weeks. "I am aware that many of you are concerned about the prices of certain essential commodities. We must keep in mind that global prices of food commodities have seen a rapid rise for a variety of factors," Singh said.
Constant effort
"We do not have any control over these factors," he added. "However, it will be our constant effort to ensure that essential food items are available to the poor and needy at a reasonable cost," he said. India imported wheat for the first time in six years in 2006, as domestic output was unable to meet demand.
Earlier, the Congress party in a draft resolution called upon the government "to explore and exhaust all options before passing on any additional price burden to consumers". India's central bank aims to contain inflation close to 5.0 per cent in 2007/08.
It wants to condition expectations in the range of 4.0-4.5 per cent with an inflation rate of around 3.0 per cent as a medium-term goal. Singh said he wanted to push the farm sector's 4 per cent growth rate, but said it had doubled from 2 per cent under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.
Nearly two-thirds of India's more than 1 billion people depend on the farm sector for a livelihood. Singh expressed happiness with the country's economic growth of around 9 per cent and added development was now spreading to most regions, instead of being confined to a few parts. "In many areas, poverty has reduced. If we keep on this path, then we will be able to tackle poverty to a large extent," he said.
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