Headline inflation rate, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inched marginally upwards in the negative territory to -1.17 per cent for the week ended July 11 primarily due to the rise in prices of primary articles .
The inflation rate stood at -1.21 per cent for the previous week ended July 4 and 12.13 per cent during the corresponding week in 2008.
"The food items are exerting pressure on the inflation rate, however we expect that some seasonal effects will wear off and food prices might stabilise marginally. We expect negative inflation till September and a status quo monetary policy (to be released on July 28),"said Subhada Rao , Chief economist, Yes Bank.
The inflation rate for the primary articles category rose by 56 basis points to stand at 4.96 per cent on an annual basis , however there was a decrease in prices of manufactured articles as the category registered negative inflation at -0.05 per cent.
The rates of inflation for cereals and pulses eased off marginally on an annual basis by 0.92 basis points and 1.37 percentage points respectively to stand at 11.02 per cent and 15.91 per cent on an annual basis.
However, prices of these commodities (cereals and pulses ) continued to rise on a week on week basis and registered 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent increase from last week respectively.
During the week under consideration , prices of vegetables shot up by 4 per cent to 21.83 per cent while fish marine registered the highest increase of 9 per cent.
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Sugar prices continued to be high with an inflation rate of 33.65 per cent.
Fuel prices also registered a week on week rise of 0.1 per cent and the inflation rate stood at -10.05 per cent.
The final rate of inflation for the week ended May 16 was revised upwards to 1.65 per cent from an earlier provisional estimate of 0.61 per cent.