Inflation drops to 30-yr low

Prices of vegetables and other daily food items continued their rise and were costlier than they were a year ago. However, wholesale price-based inflation rate trawled new depths at a 30-year low of 0.18% during the week ended April 4, latest government data shows. In the week ended April 4, general food items cost 1.2% more than the preceding week and 7.29% higher than their rates prevailing a year ago. Vegetables turned dearer by almost 25% and oil cakes by 2.4% on a weekly basis. A year-on-year comparison shows processed fish becoming expensive by 42.75%, liquor by 25.41%, tea and coffee by 14.44%, pulses by 9.12% and cereals by 9.45%. Ironically though, while daily food items continue to cost more, the inflation rate shows a decline of 0.08 percentage points during the week under review against 0.26% in the previous week. The inflation stood at 7.71% in the year-ago week. The disconnect between the inflation rate and prices of daily food items can be attributed to a higher base of the index and a simultaneous fall in prices of manufactured items, particularly metals.