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Food inflation fell to a three-month low because of a decline in vegetable and cereal prices. For the week ended February 19, food inflation stood at 10.39 per cent, almost one percentage point lower than 11.49 recorded for the previous week. The gain in food prices is the least since November 27 last year.
In the corresponding week last year, food inflation stood at 21.62 per cent. Prices of potatoes declined by 12.66 per cent year-on- year, while pulses fell by 5.02 per cent during the period. Onions and wheat fell by 3.64 per cent and 2.06 per cent respectively.
But fruits (16.34 per cent), egg, meat and fish (14.5 per cent), vegetables (14.29 per cent) and milk (11.07 per cent) became costlier during the week.
Meanwhile, Prof Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor, maintained that the current inflation in food is unacceptably high. “We have to work towards bringing this down,” he said.
Primary Articles
Inflation for the combined Primary Articles group, comprising food, non-food articles and minerals, increased by 14.65 per cent on an annual basis, a fall from 16 per cent in the previous week. Inflation in the fuel and power group rose 12.56 per cent.
Non-Food Articles
The index for Non-Food Articles group stood at 14.98 per cent. Liquified Petroleum Gas index showed an increase of 14.99 per cent, petrol rose by 30.75 per cent while high-speed diesel oil grew by 14.71 per cent.
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