Inflation rises to 3.11 per cent

Inflation rises to 3.11 per cent
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JAN 23: After a two-week spell below the three per cent mark, inflation rate vaulted to 3.11 per cent for the week ended January 8 mainly on account of increase in prices of various food and non-food articles.

The 0.41 percentage points jump in the annual rate of inflation to 3.11 per cent (provisional) as against 2.70 per cent (provisional) in the previous week was triggered by rise in indices of primary articles and the manufactured products.

Inflation rate was, however, higher at 4.52 per cent during the corresponding week last year. The highest rate of inflation in recent months was recorded at 3.13 per cent for the week ended December 18, 1999.

The wholesale price index for `all commodities' (base:1981-82=100) for the week ended January 8, recorded a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent during the week under review to 365.0 (provisional) as against 364.8 (provisional) in the previous week.

Though inflation rate had remained below the three per cent mark for most part of the currentfinancial year, it is forecast to rise further to the four per cent mark in the coming months as the differences in the higher base last year was fast declining.

The final wholesale price index for the week ended November 13 stood lower at 369.6 as against 369.8 on the provisional index. The final annual rate of inflation for the same week was also down at 3.07 per cent compared to 3.12 per cent calculated provisionally.

While the inflation rate based on consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW) was zero per cent in November 1999, the inflation rate based on consumer price index for rural labourers fell to 1.6 per cent in December 1999 from 1.9 per cent a month ago.

The inflation based on consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL), however, rose to 2.0 per cent in December, 1999 from 1.9 per cent in November.

Inflation rate for CPI-AL and CPI-RL were higher at 15.1 per cent and 14.6 per cent respectively in December 1998. While, the primary articles' index rose marginally by0.1 per cent during the week under review, the index for fuel, power, light & lubricants remained unaltered at the previous week's level. Index for manufactured products, the third major index in the WPI, however, rose marginally during the period.

Prices of commodities which altered perceptibly were poultry chicken, raw silk and soyabean (up 5 per cent each), filament yarn synthetic and linseed (up 4 per cent each), castor seed (down 7 per cent), coconut oil and linseed oil (down 4 per cent each), tea, rape & mustard seed and rice bran oil (down 3 per cent each). The inflation had fallen in the last two weeks.