Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Move Over, Rajan

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan cannot bring inflation down. Only politics can. The sooner politicians, policymakers and analysts realise this, the sooner we will have realistic solutions. Inflation has three different drivers. One is the large fiscal deficit, which creates demand for goods and services in excess of the supply. Another is steady increase in fuel prices as part of a programme of gradual decontrol in a context of volatile global energy prices and a weak rupee. And the third is a steady increase in the demand for fruit and vegetables and a range of protein foods such as lentils, milk, meat, fish and eggs. To squeeze any of these inflation drivers, you need good politics. Finance minister P Chidambaram has said that he would hold the deficit down below 4.8% of GDP. And his determination is clear and credible. But this is not enough............ 

Read - ET

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