With rise in global crude prices amid fears of a war over Iraq pushing up domestic prices of diesel and petrol, inflation rose to a two-year high of 4.86 per cent for the week ended February 1.The wholesale price index (WPI) change, which was a mere 1.13 per cent in the year-ago period, rose by another 0.25 per cent in the latest reported week from the previous week’s level of 4.61 per cent, with prices of all major commodities skyrocketing.The WPI rose by 0.2 per cent to 168.4 due to increase in the price of primary, fuel and manufactured products. The index was 160.6 in the previous year.The final WPI stood corrected at 167.4 for the week ended December 7 as compared to provisional figure of 167.2 and the point-to-point inflation was at 3.27 per cent as against the provisional level of 3.15 per cent.Cautioning that inflation might cross 5 per cent by the end of this fiscal, BB Bhattacharya of the Institute of Economic Growth said it was due to rise in global crude prices and delayed impact of drought. Primary articles’ group index rose marginally by 0.1 per cent to 175.4 mainly due to price rise in food articles, even as non-food items became cheaper. The index was 166 in the year-ago period.A sharp three per cent hike in the price of diesel and 1 per cent in petrol, jacked up the index for fuel, power, light and lubricants’ group by 0.6 per cent to 243.2 and the index was 227.3 in the previous year.
