The Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday hoped that the steps taken by the government and those by the Reserve Bank of India would bring the inflation down to six per cent by the end of this financial year.
"I do hope it would be possible for us to do and we can end the financial year with an inflationary rate around six per cent," Mukherjee said here, expressing his concerns with inflationary pressures on food items.
"We have taken steps to improve the supply side by easing import of foods, which are in short supply," the Minister, who is here to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said.
On the demand side the latest revision of the (interest) rates have created a situation where a part of the excess liquidity would be mopped up by the Reserve bank of India, Mukherjee said. "... we are accepting the policy through which we can strike a balance so that the growth is not retarded and at the same time inflationary pressure is being reduced," he said at Woodrow Wilson Center and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual lecture series.
