Inflation Eases To 5.66%

Inflation fell for the second week in a row to 5.66 per cent during the week ended April 28 as higher production of agri products like wheat pulled down prices of essential food products.It is expected to ease pressure from the Reserve Bank to take further measures to tighten money supply. Although inflation fell from 5.77 per cent from the week ago, but was way above the year ago period when it stood at 3.90 per cent.While prices of most items in broad categories of food products declined, those in manufactured rose a bit.Prices of cereals declined by 0.2 per cent. Within cereals, wheat was cheaper by one per cent. Wheat production is estimated at 73.7 million tonne in 2006-07 as against 69.35 million tonne in the previous year.Sugar prices declined by one per cent as the country is all set to achieve a record production of about 26.5 million tonne in 2006-07 season ending September 2007 compared to 19.3 million tonne last year.