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Inflation eases to 12.34%

The annual Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose 12.34 per cent during the week ended August 23, marginally below the previous week’s annual rise of 12.40 per cent due to lower prices of mainly food products, government data showed.

During the latest reported week, the WPI rose marginally to 240.3 points from 240.2 points for the previous week. The annual rate of inflation was recorded at 3.94 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago.

On a disaggregated basis, the Primary Articles group index declined by 0.4 per cent as the index for the Food Articles group declined by 0.8 per cent due to lower prices of fish-marine (13 per cent), fruits and vegetables (2 per cent) and jowar, arhar and urad (1 per cent each

The index for Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 0.4 per cent due to higher prices of raw silk (14 per cent), raw cotton (3 per cent) and copra (1 per cent). However, the prices of castor seed and raw rubber (1 per cent each) declined.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, for Primary Articles stood at 10.79 per cent for the latest reported week, as against 8.46 per cent during the previous reported week. The annual rate of inflation for the Food Articles group was recorded at 6.04 per cent, way below the 7.77 per cent reported a year ago.

The fuel, power, light and lubricants group index remained unchanged at its previous week’s level. The Manufactured Products group index surged by 0.2 per cent as the index for the food products group rose by 0.2 per cent due to higher prices of imported edible oil (2 per cent) and oilcakes (1 per cent). However, the prices of rice bran oil (2 per cent) and cottonseed oil and rape and mustard oil (1 per cent each) declined.

The index for the Base Metals, Alloys and Metal Products group rose by 0.4 per cent due to higher prices of cast iron spun pipes (15 per cent), pipes and tubes (6 per cent), lead ingots (3 per cent) and zinc ingots (2 per cent). However, the prices of zinc (2 per cent) declined. The index for the Transport, Equipment and Parts group rose by 0.2 per cent due to higher prices of bicycles (3 per cent).

For the week ended June 28, the final WPI stood revised to 238.4 points, as compared to 238.1 points estimated provisionally, and the annual rate of inflation based on final index, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 12.03 per cent as compared to 11.89 per cent points reported earlier.

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