The Hindu Business Line : Govt not sacrificing growth by trying to check prices: Montek

NEW DELHI: Dismissing fears that the Government was sacrificing growth to check price rise, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission on Wednesday said the centre was trying to lay the foundation of sustained growth by taking measur es to contain inflation.

"When the Government tries to bring inflation down, it is not sacrificing growth. It is laying the foundation for a sustainable medium and long-term growth", he said while expressing optimism that the country would achieve a growth rate of 8 per cent dur ing the current fiscal.

"Anybody who recommends that we should continue inflation is actually sacrificing growth. High inflation will kill medium term growth prospects", Mr Ahluwalia added.

He further said, "If you have to choke off excess growth in two months in order to have good growth in two years. I don't call that as sacrifice of growth."

Mr Ahluwalia's statement comes amidst fears that Government and the Reserve Bank were trying to check price rise through various fiscal and monetary initiatives that will have adverse implications for the industry.

The Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh had earlier this year said controlling inflation was a priority for the Government, but containing price-line did not mean growth would be sacrificed.

Stressing that it was important to control inflation, he said: "If we can achieve 8 per cent growth I would be quite satisfied. We have not seen anything so far to revise that estimates."

Referring to the six-year low industrial growth of 3 per cent in March 2008, he said, one-month data was not an indication of the growth for the whole year. There is lot of variation in the monthly data, he said, adding that the revised picture could be quite different. - PTI

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