Friday, August 1, 2008

Inflation Stood 11.98 Per Cent - Aug 01 , 2008

As if proving last week''s moderation as an aberration, inflation rose by 0.09 per cent to just a whisper away from the psychological 12 per cent on account of increase in prices of pulses, fruits and spices among other things.

The inflation stood 11.98 per cent for the week ending July 19 as compared to 4.65 4.65 per cent for the same period a year ago. Commenting on inflation figures, a Finance Ministry statement said, out of 98 articles, 15 items have shown a decline in prices as compared to previous week while prices of another 58 articles remained stable.

It, however, admitted that inflation for a group of 30 essential commodities went up to 6.67 per cent from 5.82 per cent in the previous week. Analysts said the Reserve Bank''s measures to curtail demand through increase in interest rates would take some time to bring down prices.Among the food article, prices of moong increased by four per cent, urad by three per cent, arhar by two per cent condiments and spices and gram by one per cent each.At the same time prices of linseed rose by two per cent and raw rubber by one per cent.However, fuel, power, light and lubricants category remained unchanged at the previous week level.To counter inflation, the Reserve Bank on July 29 tightened the money supply by increasing the short-term lending (rep) rate and the mandatory desposits to be parked with it (CRR) by 50 and 25 basis points respectively.

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