Inflation soared to 6.68%, its highest in 13 months, raising market expectations that the Reserve Bank of India may have to respond and sending the rupee to its highest in a month against the dollar. While the rate is marginally higher than the 5.92% reported for the previous week ending on March 8, it's above the 6.56% reported in the same week of 2007. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Government was prepared to give up a bit of growth to control inflation. "I assure you that the government is determined to take all measures, fiscal, monetary and supply side, to moderate inflation and if that means we have to live with slightly lesser growth so be it,' he told reporters in Mumbai. Significantly, in a sign that prices may have begun rising earlier than previous government data suggested, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry also revised the inflation rate for the week ended January 19, 2008 to 4.45% from the 3.03 per cent reported originally. The high inflation numbers, coming on the back of industrial production numbers that indicate a slowdown, are certain to worry the governing coalition, which hopes to be re-elected next year. Being the fourth straight week where inflation has remained over 5%, these figures spurred the rupee upwards from Rs 40.155 to Rs 39.85 before closing the day at Rs 40.095, vis a vis the US dollar. While the central bank is expected to let the rupee appreciate further in a bid to cool down prices, monetary policy alone doesn't hold the key to inflation control. A closer look reveals that inflation has risen due to prices soaring across-the-board