Mumbai:
The annual rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) declined
marginally to 4.36 per cent during the week ended July 21 from 4.41 per cent in
the previous week. Inflation
rate edged lower on the back of a general fall in food items like pulses and fruits
despite a rise in the prices of vegetables and some other food items. Prices of
most manufactured goods and lubricants also rose during the week under review.
Vegetables were
dearer by 2.3 per cent. Prices of food items in manufactured category like coffee
powder rose by seven per cent, coconut oil, imported edible oil, oil cakes and
groundnut oil by two per cent each and khandsari and cotton seed oil by one per
cent each. Food
items like eggs, meat and fish were less expensive by 1.8 per cent, fruits by
0.6 per cent and pulses by 0.4 per cent. The
inflation rate had stood at 4.72 per cent during the corresponding period of the
previous year. This
is the first official inflation data after the Reserve Bank raised the cash reserve
ratio (CRR) of banks by 0.5 per cent in its quarterly review of monetary policy.
The central bank, however, held interest rates steady. Inflation
levels have so far been well within the RBI`s five per cent ceiling for the current
fiscal and even its projection of 4-4.5 per cent in the `medium term`. It
was the first fall in the weekly inflation rate since June 16, when it dropped
to a 14-month low of 4.03 per cent. RBI
had, in its quarterly monetary policy review, noted that international crude prices
had risen beyond $70 a barrel and were extremely volatile, which posed a serious
risk to inflation expectations. Analysts
expect higher crude oil prices, hovering around $77 a barrel, to force government
to raise administered prices for petrol and diesel, pushing inflation higher.
|