Inflation nears the flat line

The wholesale price index (WPI) fell for the 13th successive week though the drop was lower at 0.12% for the week ended August 29 against a decline of 0.21% in the previous week, the Commerce Ministry said. However, going by the 0.46% upward revision in WPI for the week ended July 4, the annual rate of inflation is likely to have already moved into the positive zone for the last week of August. Inflation for food articles moved up to 14.8% from 14.5% in the week before. The price indices for primary articles and manufacturing products rose for the week ended Aug. 29, while that of the fuel, power, light and lubricants remained unchanged. Inflation turned negative for the week ended June 6 for the first time since the new WPI series started in 1995. The inflation rate had last turned negative in 1977.