The country’s annual food inflation, based on wholesale prices, has shot up to 19.95 percent for the week ended Dec 5 as compared to 19.05 percent a week ago. The government has rose serious concerns over the rising food prices.

According to the official data released on Thursday, the inflation of primary articles rose by 14.98 percent during the week in comparison to 13.9 percent in the previous week, while inflation for fuel rose by 3.95 percent.

The data indicated the following average price rise in some essential food items in the last 1 year period; potatoes increased by 136.39 percent, Vegetables by 41.09 percent, pulses by 40.81 percent, onions by 15.42 percent, milk by 13.61 percent, wheat by 13.91
percent, rice by 12.7 percent and fruits by 10.93 percent.

Protesting against the rising food prices the opposition had obstructed the parliamentary proceedings on Wednesday, after which the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.

In an interaction with the reporters, Finance minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has said that the situation has raised concerns as there was an inflationary pressure in the food items.

At this, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Mr. D Subarao said, “If food price inflation persists for long, they can fuel inflationary expectations and the monetary policy will have to take a view on this.”