Food inflation up at 11.49%, PM eyes 7% by Mar

Food inflation inched up to 11.49% even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament that inflation will come down to a manageable 7% by the end of next month.

Food inflation inched up to 11.49% even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament that inflation will come down to a manageable 7% by the end of next month.

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"I will be the first one to admit that inflation in the last 18 months has become a problem. There were reasons beyond our control. First, there was the drought of 2009 and there were natural calamities which affected the production of important products such as vegetables and onions," Singh said.

The food inflation had dropped to 11.05 % in the first week of February from 13.07% in the previous week. "The government's function is to ensure that we control inflation but in a manner which we do not hurt the growth of employment opportunities," Singh said.

"The only way we can control inflation is through increased production and increased productivity of agriculture," he said.