Govt improving farm products' supply to arrest inflation

The government was trying to improve supply of some critical farm products which would help moderate the double-digit food inflation in coming weeks, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

“Food inflation has reached double digits and it is a matter of concern. There is a seasonal factor, but there are also supply constraints in some critical agricultural products which we shall have to remove,” Mukherjee told reporters here.

He hoped it would have some moderating influence in the coming weeks. "The monetary policy the Reserve Bank has adopted will take some time to have full impact on the demand management and, in the short and medium term, we are trying to improve the supply so that the moderating influence of inflation is felt in the coming week.”