Headline inflation, as measured by wholesale price index (WPI), stood at 8 per cent for the week ended November 29 this year, as compared with 8.4 per cent in the previous week. It was 3.89 per cent during the corresponding week last year.
This is the fifth consecutive week the inflation remains to be in single digit.
Inflation rate for primary articles, which has a weight of 22 per cent in the index number, fell to 11.66 per cent in the reported week as compared with 11.98 per cent in the previous week. However, inflation rate for food articles increased marginally by 4 basis points (one basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point) to 10.52 per cent in the seven days up to November 29, 2008.
Primary articles, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry, accounted for 33.2 per cent of inflation — around 11 percentage points higher than their contribution to the WPI basket.
The monthly deseasonalised inflation rate, which is measured by taking out seasonal factors, turned positive in November, after been negative during September-October 2008. “This was due to an increase in the rate of primary goods inflation in November 2008,” the finance ministry said.
The annual inflation rate for the two other groups —fuel and manufactured products — too declined on a year-on-year basis, but their index numbers remained unchanged from the previous week’s number.
While ‘fuel’ group declined to 4.48 per cent (5.28), the inflation for manufactured goods declined to 7.86 per cent (8.15 per cent). Figures in the bracket represent previous week numbers.
The inflation number for the week ended October 17, 2008, has been revised upward by 5 basis point to 11.49 per cent. The provisional numbers are revised after a gap of two months.