Inflation breaches 5% mark

Hardening of cement as well as edible oils prices have pushed up the annual rate of inflation to above 5 per cent mark during the week ended...

Hardening of cement as well as edible oils prices have pushed up the annual rate of inflation to above 5 per cent mark during the week ended March 5, as compared to 4.95 per cent in the previous week.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose by 0.35 per cent to 5.30 per cent for the week under consideration. The point-to-point inflation was much lower at 4.79 per cent a year ago.

The annual rate of inflation has started inching up after touching a low of 4.83 per cent for the week ended February 19.

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The upward pull due to hike in the prices of manufactured products was to a great extent negated by dip in the prices of primary products, comprising food and non-food articles, and a static fuel prices, resulting in an increase of only 0.1 per cent in WPI at 188.9 points.

However, in the international markets, oil prices touched $55 a barrel during the week in review mainly due to continued cold weather in the northern hemisphere and concerns over production cut by oil cartel Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

Since the government has not revised oil prices since November 15 due to inflationary pressures in the economy at that point of time, public sector oil firms now want a massive Rs 5 per litre increase in petrol and Rs 4.30 a litre hike in diesel prices from April 1.

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