NEW DELHI: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the inflation has been kept at six per cent or below despite adverse circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Price rise is a matter on which the Centre is very sensitive and responsive, she said.

Sitharaman said the pandemic and the conflict had a bearing on the prices of commodities which India import, adding that the government has taken measures including giving subsidies.

“Will you compare the situation prevailing everywhere, particularly after COVID, particularly after Russia and Ukraine war? The (prices of) commodities we import are all sky-rocketing. They are not produced in India. We totally import. Is that price rise mine? But that price hits me. And there, I have to give support,” the Minister said.

Even in this adverse circumstances inflation has been kept at six per cent or below. There are times it goes up. Then we work together with RBI and say please control it, Sitharaman said.

Sitharaman welcomed the RBI’s decision to keep the benchmark rate unchanged. “RBI has taken a good call, I think”, she said. Wherever it is not possible - for instance the crude oil and cooking gas, which are imported - the government tries to give subsidy, she said.

It may not be enough, but we try to give subsidy, she said. “We have to allow import on a higher basis and reduce customs duty so that more edible oil can come,” Sitharaman said.

In this regard, edible oil containers are being built around Mangaluru airport, the Minister said.

These are both short and medium-term steps so that inflation can be brought down so that Samanya Praja or ordinary citizen and their suffering can be brought down, Sitharaman said.

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