Food inflation spikes to 13.39%: Govt

Food prices continue to climb in India, according to the latest data released by the Government. For the week ended Oct. 24, the annual inflation, calculated on a point-to-point basis, stood at 13.39% as against 12.85% in the previous week, while the same for the Primary Articles group inched up to 8.94% from 8.67%. Inflation for the Fuel & Power index was at (-)6.2%, unchanged from the week ended Oct. 17. The weekly release of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) will henceforth cover only the Primary Articles and commodities in the broad group "Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants". Monthly WPI covering all commodities will be released for the month of October 2009 next week on November 12.