Inflation Rate Crosses 4% Mark

After a gap of about six months, the inflation rate once again crossed the four-per cent mark due to rising prices of cereals, salt and bakery products. Based on the movement in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), the inflation rate moved up to 4.11 per cent for the week ended January 26 from 3.93 per cent recorded in the previous week. The previous high of 4.4 per cent was recorded for the week ended July 28, 2007, while the annual rate of inflation a year ago was 6.69 per cent. The Government has also revised the inflation rate for the week ended December 14, 2007, to 3.89 per cent from 3.75 per cent reported earlier. Among the items of common consumption, the wholesale price of salt moved by five per cent during the week, while maize, moong, wheat, bajra and bakery products also became dearer. Although the index that reflects the prices of fuel remained unchanged, thanks to the Government not affecting any hike in fuel prices, the manufactured items and minerals became costlier during the week. Price hike was witnessed also in the case of toilet soaps and industrial inputs like caustic soda, synthetic rubber, limestone and iron ore.

The inflation data point out that the index of food items (within the primary articles category) rose by 0.2 per cent over the previous week due to higher prices of maize (three per cent) and moong, wheat, spices and bajra (one per cent each). However, prices of barley declined by one per cent.

The index of non-food articles rose by 0.5 per cent due to increase in prices of cotton (two per cent), castor and groundnut seeds (one per cent each). The group index of minerals moved up by 2.1 per cent due to higher prices of gypsum (62 per cent), limestone (14 per cent), fire clay (10 per cent) and iron ore (one per cent).