Inflation drops to 5.05%

Reflecting the "measured" steps taken by the centre and the Reserve Bank to check prices, fiscal 2004-05 ended with inflation at 5.05% for the week ended March 26, 2005 despite costlier food articles, including vegetables.

Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) fell by 0.06% to 5.05% from the previous week's level of 5.11% due to the fall in prices of edible oils and non-food products.

The inflation was 4.64% in the year-ago period. It stood at 4.4% at the beginning of fiscal 2004-05.

The WPI rose by 0.20% to 189.4 points with indices of primary articles and heavy-weighted manufactured products going up in the week under review.

The government revised downwards inflation to 5.14% for the week ended January 29 as against the provisional estimate of 5.25%.

The WPI stood corrected at 188.3 points during the last week of January as against the provisional figure of 188.5 points.