Government has indicated more steps to check rising prices. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday told reporters in New Delhi, the government is looking into it. He said that the prices of onion have been taken care of but the fluctuation in milk, fruit, vegetables and certain commodities have contributed to the inflation. The food inflation surged to a 10-week high of 14.44 per cent for the week ended December 18 as prices of vegetables, fruits and protein-based products continued to escalate.

The finance minister said, the high inflation rate is not due to statistical technicality called base effect and is real. Mr. Mukherjee projected the overall inflation for the current financial year to be around 6.5 per cent. AIR correspondent reports, high inflation rate last year generally makes inflation rate this year look small, other things remaining the same.

Mr. Mukherjee’s estimates of year end inflation, however, is higher than 5.5 per cent indicated by the Prime Minister ,Dr. Manmohan Singh and 6 per cent projected by the Mid-Year Analysis of the Finance Ministry for the current fiscal. Continuing its rise for the fifth consecutive week, food inflation rose to a 10-week high of 14.44 per cent .Food articles contribute about 14 per cent in the wholesale price index.