Concerned over surging food prices, the Reserve Bank today said that controlling inflation continues to be a "dominant" concern.
"...In fact, inflation has been and continues to be our dominant concern," RBI Governor D Subbarao said, while delivering the welcoming remarks of L K Jha Memorial Lecture by Stanford Professor John Taylor here.
Food inflation touched 17.97 per cent during the week ended February 6, up marginally from 17.94 per cent a week ago, and there are fears that higher food inflation will fuel overall inflation.
Wholesale price inflation crossed the RBI projection of 8.5 per cent by March-end as food items such as sugar, potatoes and pulses turned costlier. It currently stands at 8.56 per cent.
Recently, Subbarao said in Patna that the central bank would stick to its projection for the rate of price rise in spite of the surge in food price-driven inflation.
Referring to the policy stance adopted by RBI during the crisis, Subbarao said the central bank's concern was to arrest the moderation in economic growth rather rescuing a collapsing financial sector as in the Western world.