Delivering a 40-minute speech from the ramparts of the historic 17th century Red Fort on the occasion of India's 65th Independence Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said his government sees the taming of inflation as one of its top priorities, and blamed global factors like high commodity and oil rates for the price rise.
"Controlling rising prices is the primary responsibility of any government... Sometime, we have been confronted with a situation in which the reasons for rising prices lay outside the country.
The prices of petroleum products, food grains and edible oil have risen steeply in international markets in recent times," Singh said in his address to the nation.
"Our country is passing through a phase of sustained high inflation. I wish to assure you that we are continuously monitoring the situation to find out what new steps can be taken to arrest rising prices. Finding a solution to the problem will be our topmost priority in the coming months," Singh said.
Inflation, particularly of food articles, has been persistently high for several months. Both general and food inflation figures are near double digits, causing hardships to the common man and leading to high cost of borrowing that affects the economic activity.
Food inflation for the last week ended July was 9.90 per cent, while the general inflation was ruling at 9.44 per cent in June.
