Mumbai: The annual rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) rose to 4.41 per cent for the week ended July 14 from 4.27 per cent the previous week mainly on account of higher prices of food articles like fruits and vegetables, ragi, wheat, jowar, condiments and spices.

The inflation rate was 4.62 per cent in the corresponding week of the previous year.

Among primary articles, prices of vegetables rose sharply by 7 per cent during the week, while those of cereals rose by 0.9 per cent.

In the non-food articles category, prices of fibre rose by 2.2 per cent. However, the prices of sugar, jaggery and gingelly oil declined by one per cent. Also, prices of fish-marine and urad declined by two per cent and one per cent respectively.

Among manufactured products, rates of rice and bran oil rose by 3 per cent each, while imported edible oil, groundnut oil, cotton seed oil and oil cakes became costlier by one percentage point.

Although inflation has risen from a 14-month low of 4.03 per cent in mid-June, it is well below a two-year high of 6.69 per cent and within the upper limit of 5 per cent set by the Reserve Bank of India for fiscal year ending March 2008.Although finance minister P Chidambaram had hinted at a likely tightening of the monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of India kept its short-term lending rate steady at its April review after raising it five times since mid-2006.