June WPI inflation eases to 5.43%

After rising to a five-month high in May, inflation dipped to 5.43 % in June mainly on account of decline in prices of food items and vegetables with the exception of potato and onion.

It was at 5.16 % a year ago in June 2013.

As per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation, prices of vegetables as a category declined by 5.89 % during the month, while that of potato and onion soared by 42.51 % and 10.70 % respectively in the wholesale market.

Inflation had soared to a five-month high of 6.01 % in May 2014.

Among other important items, prices of sugar and edible oils fell by 2.09 % and 0.75 % respectively during June.

The food items that became expensive during the month include fruits (up 21.40 %), followed by milk (10.82 %), egg, meat and fish (10.27 %) and rice (10.24 %).

The inflation of food items as a category, however, continued to remain high at 8.14 % during the month and will continue to be a cause of concern for the government which is gearing up to meet the impact of poor monsoon on the price situation.