Inflationary pressure will be there, says FM

Terming inflation turning positive after a gap of three months as "expected", Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said inflationary pressure would rise further in the days to come.

"It is expected. It is nothing unexpected because we were having inflation calculation on year-on-year basis so there is a trend and we are suggesting that there would be inflationary pressure," Mukherjee told reporters.

Inflation edged back into positive territory after 13 weeks at 0.12 per cent for the week ended September 5, driven by higher prices of essential food items and may firm up further on the back of poor farm production on account of deficient rainfall.

Even RBI Governor D Subbarao earlier this week had said, "inflationary pressures are upon us. Consumer price inflation is in double digits and is going up, while inflation of certain essential commodities is 15 per cent within even the wholesale price inflation."

The challenge before the Reserve Bank and the Government over the next few months, "perhaps over the next couple of years" is to withdraw from the accommodative policy and supporting drivers of growth," Subbarao had said.

Inflation during the reporting week moved up on account of higher prices of essential commodities. While the price of fruits rose by an exorbitant 17.8 per cent on a weekly basis, chicken became dearer by 16 per cent, spices by 3 per cent and some pulses by one to two per cent.