Mumbai: The inflation rate based on the wholesale price index eased to 5.66 per cent for the week ended April 28 from 5.77 per cent the previous week following a fall in prices of some food products and manufactured items.

The latest inflation level remains above the Reserve Bank''s target of 5 per cent for the financial year to March 2008 and far off the 3.90 per cent in the corresponding week last year.

Prices of bajra, gram, barley, poultry chicken, wheat, raw rubber, raw cotton, raw jute, sunflower, fibres, sugar, lead ingots were down, government data showed.

The wholesale price-based inflation stood at In food articles, prices of moong, masur and milk were costlier while in manufactured items titanium dioxide, building bricks, zinc, pan masala, beedi and biscuits moved up.

There was no change in fuel, power, light and lubricant segment.

The RBI has warned of signs of overheating in India''s fast-growing economy and wants the rate to fall to 4.0 to 4.5 pct in the medium term.

The central bank has also introduced a slew of monetary tightening measures in recent months to curb inflation. It raised short-term lending rates twice this year, by a quarter per cent each time to 7.75 per cent -- the highest level in more than four years -- to contain inflation.