India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday in New Delhi that the government would import essential items to improve supplies to control inflation of food products that reached a ten-year high of 19.95% for the week ended December 5, report media.
He said that this inflation rose following higher prices of essential food items like potato, vegetables and pulses. Steps would be taken to ensure that the supply of essential commodities was increased by importing them.
Earlier, the Standing Committee on Finance, in its report tabled in Parliament, said that the Finance Ministry had not acted in time to control inflation, and recommended a temporary embargo on exporting essential food items and amend the Essential Commodities Act.
The government has taken measures like imposing no import duty on wheat, pulses and crude edible oil besides permitting the import of rice and sugar to check the inflation. The country's apex bank is also likely to raise interest rates in its January monetary policy review.
Source : forextv.com