PM: Govt steps, monsoon to ease prices

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Measures taken by the government to increase supplies of essential commodities and a good monsoon are expected to lower prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday.

Releasing a report card marking four years of his communist-backed government, Singh said he was confident the administration's policies would turnaround the flagging farm sector and enable a return to a regime of moderate inflation.

"The Indian economy is on a high growth path and I am confident that we will be able to increase production and satisfy the growing demands of our people and at the same time keep a check on prices," Singh told a meeting of party leaders and ministers.

India's widely watched inflation rate headed towards 8 percent in early May, clocking a 3-1/2 year high at 7.83 percent.

The government and the central bank have taken a slew of measures to calm prices in Asia's third-largest economy.