Inflation rate rises to 6.59 pc

NEW DELHI, JUNE 11: The annual rate of inflation inched up by 0.29 per cent to 6.59 per cent on May 27 as against 6.30 per cent for the pr...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 11: The annual rate of inflation inched up by 0.29 per cent to 6.59 per cent on May 27 as against 6.30 per cent for the previous week. The inflation rate stood at 3.11 per cent during the corresponding week last year.

Last week, it witnessed a minuscule fall of 0.08 per cent to 6.30 per cent on May 20 after recording a 75-week high of 6.38 per cent the week before. The inflation rate which had been on rising trend since the beginning of this year was mainly due to increase in prices of petroleum products.

The latest rise in inflation rate was attributed to increase in prices of fish-marine, poultry chicken, urad and milk, kardi seed, raw cotton and raw silk and cotton yarn-hanks. But during the week, prices of fish-inland, mesta, niger seed, coconut oil, bran declined.

The official wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities (base 1993-94) showed a rise of 0.1 per cent at 152.1 (provisional) on May 27, 2000 as against 151.9 (provisional) a week ago. The index for primary articles rose by 0.6 per cent to 164.2 (provisional) from 163.3 (provisional) for the previous week.

The index for food articles under this major group rose by 0.7 per cent to 174.3 from 173.1 for the last week due to increase in prices of fish-marine by five per cent, poultry chicken by four per cent, urad and milk by three per cent each, bajra by two per cent and vegetables and eggs by one per cent each.

However, the prices of fish-inland declined by five per cent, barley, gram and condiments and spices by two per cent each and arhar by one per cent during the week under review. The final WPI for all commodities (base 1993-94100) stood at 151.8 for the week ending April 1, 2000 as against the provisional index of 148.2.

The annual rate of inflation based on final index calculated on point-to-point basis worked out to 6.75 per cent for the week ending April 1, 2000 as against the mark of 4.22 per cent calculated based on provisional index.

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The index for non-food articles group went up by 0.1 per cent to 143.6 from 143.4 for the last week due to higher prices of kardi seed by three per cent, raw cotton and raw silk by two per cent each and copra by one per cent. However, the prices of mesta moved down by eight per cent, nigerseed by five per cent, linseed by two per cent and raw jute, groundnut seed, rape and mustard seed and tobacco raw by one per cent each during the week.

The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants remained stagnant at its previous week’s level of 193.6 (provisional). The index for manufactured products decline by 0.1 per cent to 138.6 from 138.7 for the previous week.

The index for food products group decline by 0.2 per cent to 148.6 from 148.9 for the last week due to decline in prices of coconut oil by four per cent, bran by three per cent, rape and mustard oil by two per cent and unrefined oil by one per cent.

However, the prices of gur moved up by two per cent and groundnut oil by one per cent during the week. The index for textiles group rose by 0.2 per cent to 117.2 from 117.0 for the previous week due to higher prices of cotton yarn hanks by two per cent and acrylic yarn, hessian cloth and hessian and sacking bags one per cent each.