Inflation falls to 5.24 per cent

The official wholesale price index for 'All Commodities' (Base: 1993-94 = 100) for the week ended 3 January 2009 declined by 0.2 per cent to 229.0 (provisional) from 229.5 (provisional) for the previous week.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 5.24 per cent (Provisional) for the week ended 3 January 2009 (over 5 January  008) as compared to 5.91 per cent (provisional) for the previous week that ended on 27 December 2008 and 4.26 per cent during the corresponding week that ended 5 January 2008.

The rate of inflation, based on average monthly WPI, which was 8.66 per cent (provisional) for the month of November, 2008, has eased by 2.19 percentage points to 6.47 per cent (provisional) in December, 2008.

Primary articles (Weight 22.02 per cent) The index for this major group declined by 0.5 per cent to 246.3 (provisional) from 247.5 (provisional) for the previous week. While most food and no-food items declined, the prices of raw rubber (5 per cent) and sunflower (2 per cent) moved up.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point-to-point basis, for 'primary articles' stood at 10.85 per cent (provisional) for the week ended 03/01/2009 as compared to 11.59 per cent (Provisional) in the previous week. It was 4.12 per cent as on 5 JAnuary 2008.
Fuel, power, light & lubricants (Weight 14.23 per cent)

The index for this major group declined by 0.2 per cent to 329.8 (provisional) from 330.5 (provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of bitumen (9 per cent), aviation turbine fuel (8 per cent) and light diesel oil (3 per cent). However, the prices of naphtha (3 per cent) moved up.

Manufactured products (Weight 63.75 per cent) The index for this major group declined by 0.1 per cent to 200.6 (provisional) from 200.8 (provisional) for the previous week.

The index for 'food products' group rose by 0.9 per cent to 201.9 (provisional) from 200.1 (provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of imported edible oil (5 per cent), oil cakes (4 per cent), salt (2 per cent) and rice bran oil, sugar (1 per cent each). However, the prices of coconut oil (3 per cent) and groundnut oil (1 per cent) declined.

The index for 'chemicals & chemical products' group declined by 1.2 per cent, the index for 'basic metals alloys & metal products' group declined by 0.3 per cent and the index for 'machinery & machine tools' group rose by 0.5 per cent.