Food inflation at 18-mth low

Food inflation fell to an 18-month low of 7.7% for the week-ended April 30, but analysts warned that it wasn’t time to open the bubbly yet as high global commodity prices were likely to jack up prices of most manufactured items. HT reports. Rate hike worrying

Food inflation fell to an 18-month low of 7.7% for the week-ended April 30, but analysts warned that it wasn’t time to open the bubbly yet as high global commodity prices were likely to jack up prices of most manufactured items.

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Wholesale price index (WPI)-based food inflation stood at 8.53% in the previous week and 21.42 % in the year-ago period.

"We hope to see further moderation in food inflation in the coming weeks but there are concerns on the price momentum in non-food articles," finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

Core inflation or inflation of non-food manufactured goods has picked up in the last three months from an average 5.0-5.5% in June-October 2010 to more than 7% in March.