Inflation rate shoots up to 8.29 per cent

Inflation rate shoots up to 8.29 per cent
AGENCIES

NEW DELHI, FEB 4: Annual inflation rate shot up by 0.13 percentage points to 8.29 per cent in the week ended January 20, due to costlier primary and manufactured items.

The inflation rate based on wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities (base: 1993-94 = 100) moved up to a new high after remaining static at 8.16 per cent during the previous three weeks and was only 3.92 per cent a year ago. The wpi rose by 0.1 per cent to 158 as against 157.8 in the previous week. The index was 145.9 a year ago.

The final WPI stood at 158.2 during the week ended November 25 as against the provisional figure of 157.6. The inflation rate based on final index was higher at 7.84 per cent against provisional figure of 7.43 per. The rate of inflation based on consumer price index for industrial workers (base: 1982 = 100) also increased to 3.48 per cent during December from 2.47 per cent in the previous month and 0.47 per cent a year ago.

Although prices of fuel, power, light and lubricantsremained unchanged, prices of primary items rose by 0.2 per cent while manufactured products’ prices were up by 0.1 per cent during the week.

However, the rate of inflation based on the consumer price index number for industrial workers (CPI-IW) has fallen marginally by 0.23 per cent. It decreased from 3.48 per cent in Dec 2000 to 3.25 per cent in January 2001. In January, 2000 it was 2.62 per cent.

The all India CPI-IW, for Jan 2001 (base 1982-100) has decreased by one point to stand at 445 (four hundred and forty-five) points. The CPI-IW during the corresponding period last yeart had remained stationary.

The fall or rise in index varied from centre to centre. In 42 centres, the index decreased between 1 to 24 points and in 6 centres it remained constant whereas in 22 centres it recorded an increase of 1 to 9 points when compared to previous month.