Inflation touches 5.26 per cent

Other economists, however, maintained that despite the rise, the year-end inflation rate would settle down around five per cent and was within the expected range in growing economy.

Inflation touched 5.26 per cent last week, the highest in the last four months. The previous highest this year was 5.44 per cent during the week ended on June 17.

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It was 5.16 per cent the previous week, and 4.77 per cent in the corresponding week last year.

Prices of vegetables, condiments and spices, eggs, ragi, maize, some edible oils, cement, zinc, computer, raw rubber, silk, fodder, soyabean, bidi, polyster staple fibre, methanol, carbon black and oxygen all rose last week.

The Primary Articles group index rose 0.2 per cent to 212.4 points. The Food Articles group index also increased 0.2 per cent to 216.1 points.

TK Bhaumik, chief economist of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), said the food basket carried a weightage of 22 per cent in the calculation of Wholesale Price Index (WPI). “A one percentage point increase in the food index would result in a major increase of WPI”, said Bhaumik.

Other economists, however, maintained that despite the rise, the year-end inflation rate would settle down around five per cent and was within the expected range in growing economy.