Food inflation dips a bit

The pace of rise in food inflation showed faint signs of slowing down after four weeks, with the index settling at 17.58% year-on-year period ending on February 13 as prices of pulses and vegetables eased. The index stood at 17.97% in the previous week.Despite the latest figures indicating a cooling trend, the Economic Survey on Thursday warned that the overall prices would go up further in months to come and partially blamed poor food management policies for the double-digit food inflation. In an indication of rising food prices spilling over into the wider economy, the wholesale price - based overall inflation had risen to 8.56% in January compared with 7.31% in December, shooting past the central bank’s forecast of 8.50% for this fiscal end.