Pranab hopes inflation will drop to 7% by end-March

With marginal decline in the rate of price rise in January, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, today expressed hope that the overall inflation will come down to 7 per cent by March end.

“I am hoping that it (inflation) would be roughly around 7 per cent (by March end). I hope so. But I cannot firmly commit it,” Mr Mukherjee told reporters here.

The overall inflation has shown a marginal decline to 8.23 per cent in January, from 8.43 per cent in the previous month.

The Finance Minister, however, said the inflation numbers in the coming months would depend on global developments and the way commodity prices move in the global markets.

When asked about the impact of likely wheat crop failure in China, he said the Government was not aware of the substance of the reports although wheat prices are already firming up in the global market.

“Already there is a firming up of wheat, food prices in global market,” he said.

However, in India wheat prices declined by 4.94 per cent in January over the same month last year.

He attributed the decline in January inflation to monthly variations and said the fall was on expected lines.

“Don’t go by the weekly fluctuation or monthly fluctuations. This was expected. It is nothing unusual,” he said.