Industry & Economy
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Economy
Inflation soars as vegetable, mineral prices rise
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
Aug. 6
INFLATION surged to a two-year high of 7.51 per cent during the week ended July 24 due to a sharp rise in prices of fruits, vegetables and minerals, driving down bond and stock prices amid concerns that the Government may raise interest rates to restrain consumer prices.
Reacting to the annual figures announced on Friday by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Chief Economic Adviser, Mr Ashok Lahiri, said he expected inflation to come down by the middle of August, and the recent spurt was due to "carryover statistical effects."
The arrival of monsoon would also help, Mr Lahiri told reporters, adding that the higher inflation figure for the week ended July 24 was due to three factors: statistical effect, the late arrival of the monsoon and a firming of international commodity prices.
According to the data, the year-on year wholesale price inflation climbed up by almost a full percentage point to 7.51 per cent for the week ended July 24, from the 6.52 per cent figure for the previous week. Prices of primary articles, including vegetables and fruits, skyrocketed, and the wholesale price index rose by nearly 1 per cent to 186.2 points during the latest reported week.
The Primary Articles' group index shot up by 3 per cent to 191 points owing to a steep rise in the prices of food items and non-food articles. Mineral prices, too, more than doubled during the latest reported week.
The Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants group index remained unchanged at the previous week's level of 274.4 points despite the hike in the prices of petroleum products in recent weeks.
The index for Manufactured Products' group shot up by 0.3 per cent to 164.9 points due to rise in prices of food items, textiles, paper, leather, chemicals, non-metallic minerals and transport equipment.
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