Staying in the negative territory for the fourth week straight, inflation once again slipped to (-) 1.55 per cent in the week ended June 27, down from (-) 1.3 in the previous week. This is in stark contrast to June 2008 when it was hovering high up in the 11.5-12 per cent range. In an attempt to allay any misgivings about negative inflation, the finance ministry sought to clarify in its statement on inflation that “the high base of 2008 is primarily responsible for the current negative rates in 2009”. Despite a high annual rate of inflation, the month-on-month movement in the wholesale price index has been rather volatile with deseasonalised inflation — or the short-term inflation rate — as high as 9.5 per cent in June. It is, however, slightly down from a high of 11.8 per cent in April.