Inflationary pressure on food items coming down: Mukherjee

New Delhi, Mar 16 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that inflationary pressure on food items has started coming down.

Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a function on Monday, Mukherjee said: "I am afraid that we shall have to deal with it for some time more but inflationary pressure on the food items have started coming down slowly."

The high inflation was mainly due to the continued rise in food prices, which climbed 17.8 percent in February from a year earlier.

Rising prices have sparked opposition-backed street protests and made government reluctant to push through reforms such as relaxing fuel and farm price controls, even though the ruling Congress party faces no risk of losing power anytime soon.

Annual wholesale price inflation accelerated to 9.89 percent in February, the highest since October 2008 and well above the Reserve Bank of India''s end-March projection of 8.5 percent and the 8.56 percent January reading.