By Arvind Padmanabhan, IANS,
On Board Air India One : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday assured all steps to tame inflation, but refused to be drawn into the debate whether the central bank should now hit the pause button on rate hikes.
Speaking to reporters on the way back from Pretoria where he attended the 5th India-Brazil-South Africa Summit, the prime minister said he had called a meeting with experts last week to explore ways to moderate inflation.
“By the end of the year I am confident you will see some results.”
With industry growing in spurts, the prime minister — himself a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India — was asked if there should now be a pause on rate hikes after 11 such increases since January last year.
But the prime minister declined direct comment.
“It would not be proper for me to comment on the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank,” he said, adding there was no doubt that there were both demand- and supply-side factors which were at work to create inflationary expectations.
“International environment is also not very helpful. The energy price rise and the fact that the exchange rate in recent weeks has depreciated – that complicates the task of controlling prices.”
(Arvind Padmanabhan can be reached at [email protected])