Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday said that economic growth may moderate to about 8%, or a tad lower to 7.9% in the current fiscal, even as he pointed out that inflation would not affect expansion in medium or long-term basis. Amid speculations that crude prices may further go up, Ahluwalia said that high energy prices are likely to remain and it was critical to pass that on to the end users. "We are in the middle of a dramatic change in the world energy price situation... in the last two years, we have seen a sea change... today increasingly the perception is that we better get used to high energy prices,' he said. It is important to get used to high energy prices,he added. "Controlling inflation is a short term challenge and would not affect growth rate on a medium to long term basis,' Ahluwalia said, adding, "Though this fiscal, we may see a slightly lower growth rate... at about 8%... or a little less than that, say around 7.9%... that is not bad,' he said. However, he added, "If properly handled, inflation should not affect average growth objective of 9%. He said that surging oil prices have pushed up inflation not only in India but also in other countries. "Everywhere, growth is slowing down,' he said, adding India was not facing any unique prob