NEW DELHI, May 3: After a brief cessation, the inflation rate has crossed the five per cent mark for the third time in the current year to touch 5.03 per cent on April 18. It was 4.78 per cent in the preceding week which was the lowest in 15 weeks.However, it was 6.44 per cent during the corresponding week last year. The latest 0.25 per cent rise in the inflation rate was mainly attributed to the substantial hike in prices of tea, barley, electricity tariffs, solvent extracted groundnut oil, rice bran oil, polyester staple fibre, firebricks, cement, zinz and motorcycles. However, the prices of bajra, gram, raw cotton, naptha, bitumin, hessian and sacking bags slumped during the week under review.The first occasion was on January three when it broke through the five per cent barrier for the first time in 27 weeks. It hovered above the five per cent mark for ten consecutive weeks before it fell below the five per cent on March 14 when it touched 4.92.
