By IANS,
Chennai : Admitting that foodgrain prices had remained high even as the inflation rate came down, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Saturday that the common man will have relief soon.
“It is true that the consumer prices of food grains haven’t come down when inflation rates came down. Three years ago, commodity prices in the global markets went up and there was concern about food security. We then decided to pay remunerative prices to the farmers,” Manmohan Singh told a press conference here.
“This year there is a bumper crop and the prices will come down,” he added.
According to him, there will be a record food stock at the end of the current year.
He said his government had followed a two-pronged strategy – accelerating the pace of economic growth and attempting to make the growth process more inclusive.
He said the Indian economy averaged an annual growth rate of 8.6 percent in the last five years. “Despite the downturn, our growth will stay above 6 percent,” he added.