Inflation soars: It's bad news, am worried, says FM!

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed concern over rising food inflation, saying it is perilously near double digits.

"It is bad news that inflation has increased.

"Weekly inflation from August 6 to 13 has gone up. . . I am more concerned about food inflation, which is perilously near double digits, from 9.03 to 9.80 per cent," said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

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The Finance Minister, however, maintained that the weekly inflation figures are variant and an assessment should be made on the basis of a relatively longer period.

"As I have always maintained, weekly inflation figures are variant.

"We should make an assessment on the basis of a relatively longer period," Mukherjee said outside Parliament.

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Mukherjee said primary articles recorded 12.40 per cent inflation for the week ended August 13, up from 11.64 per cent in the previous week.

Inflation in non-food articles, which include fibres, oil seeds and minerals, stood at 17.80 per cent for the week ended August 13, compared to 16.07 per cent in the previous week.

Citing the reasons for the rise, Mukherjee said this is mainly because of non-food primary articles.

. . .

"It is mainly because of the rise in prices of flowers, raisins and series of rapeseeds like groundnut seed, mustard seed, flower seed."

Meanwhile, fuel and power inflation stood stable at 13.13 per cent for the week ended August 13, the same as in the week ended August 6.