Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said food inflation, which stands at over 16<br/>per cent, will begin to come down after the middle of next month on the back of good monsoon.<br/><br/>Addressing senior executives of Financial Services firms in Washington, Mr.Mukherjee also said containing oil prices and fiscal deficit are two major challenges before the Indian economy along with taming high inflation, currently running<br/>into double digits.<br/><br/>Mr. Mukherjee attributed high inflation to constraints in supply side of food articles which include cereals, pulses, edible oils and sugar among others.<br/><br/>The finance minister said another challenge before the Indian economy is to contain the oil prices as it has to import more than 70 per cent of its demand from outside.<br/><br/>The Finance Minister also said the first challenge before the country is to return to the path of fiscal consolidation and bring down fiscal deficit to 5.5 per cent this fiscal and<br/>4.1 per cent next year.<br/><br/>The Finance Minister said he endorses the prediction made by IMF that India will achieve 8.8 per cent growth in 2008.