Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday said inflation figures would remain high but would start declining in the subsequent months to reach a level of 6 per cent by December-end.
“The WPI data for August will be high as usual due to base effect. The effect of the monsoon was felt in the last week of August,'' Mr. Ahluwalia told reporters here.
The government is slated to announce the inflation data for August on Tuesday. The inflation, based on movement in wholesale prices, was 9.97 per cent in July. It had been in double digits for five months till June. Food inflation had also been in double digits for most of the year, barring a fortnight in July, and clocked 11.47 per cent for the week ended August 28.
Mr. Ahluwalia said that the overall inflation was likely to dip from September and fall to around 6 per cent by December. “You will see the downward trend in WPI inflation in the September data which will come out in the middle of October. And I know that by December the WPI would be close to 6 per cent,'' he said. He also said there was no need to revise the GDP growth target of 8.5 per cent for this fiscal, despite the surprisingly good growth in industrial production during July.
