Inflation drops to 5.84% on cheaper food

Inflation fell by 1.18 per cent to 5.84 per cent during the week ended February 14 against the 5.91 per cent registered in the previous week. The decline was driven by lower prices of vegetables and fruits, egg and poultry chicken, and milk.

The rate of inflation, however, is 50 basis points higher than the 5.34 per cent registered in the corresponding period last year.

The government has revised the final inflation upwards by 5.1 per cent to 5.92 per cent during the week ended December 20 as compared to the provisional figure of 5.63 per cent. The final Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood corrected at 177 points during mid-December as against the provisional 176.5 points.

The WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 179.4 points in the latest reported week as compared to 179.2 points in the previous week even as fuel prices remained unchanged for three consecutive weeks. The index stood at 169.5 points in the same period in 2002-03.

The index for the primary articles' group was up 0.2 per cent to 182.1 points because of costlier food and non-food products, even as minerals became cheaper. The index was at 176.6 points the previous year.

The index for the food articles' group rose 0.2 per cent to 179.9 points because of costlier jowar (three per cent), wheat, masur milk and moong (one per cent each). Prices, however, fell for eggs (six per cent), bajra and poultry chicken (two per cent each) and fruits and vegetables (one per cent).

The index for the non-food articles' group was up 0.2 per cent to 192.8 points because of higher prices of raw wool, copra and soyabean (two per cent each) and rape and mustard seed and groundnut seed (one per cent each). But there was a four per cent decline in the price of niger seed, two per cent for fodder and one per cent for cotton.

The minerals' group index declined 0.4 per cent to 116.6 points because of cheaper gypsum (42 per cent), fire clay (28 per cent), steatite (19 per cent), magnesite (six per cent) and bauxite (one per cent), even as prices rose for chromite by seven per cent.

The index for the fuel, power, light and lubricants' group was firm at 263.3 points. The index was at 244.4 points the previous year.

The manufactured products' group index rose 0.1 per cent to 159.5 points on account of costlier food products, textiles, chemicals, non-metallic minerals and basic metals and the index was 150.3 points in the year-ago period.