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Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to a 14-month high of 4.43% in May on increasing prices of petrol and diesel, and vegetables.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 3.18% in April and 2.26% in May last year.
According to government data released on Thursday, inflation in food articles was at 1.60% in May 2018, against 0.87% in the preceding month.
Inflation in vegetables climbed to 2.51% in May, while in the previous month it was (-)0.89%. Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ basket rose sharply to 11.22% in May from 7.85% in April as prices of domestic fuel increased in line with rising global crude oil rates.
Potato inflation was at a peak of 81.93%, against 67.94% in April. Price rise in fruits was in double digits at 15.40%, while pulses saw a deflation of 21.13%.
The WPI inflation for March was revised upwards to 2.74% from the provisional estimate of 2.47%.
May inflation at 4.43% was a 14-month peak. The previous high was in March 2017, when the WPI inflation stood at 5.11%.
In its second monetary policy review for the fiscal, the Reserve Bank earlier this month hiked interest rate by 0.25% -- the first hike in more than four years -- due to growing concerns about inflation stoked by rising global crude oil prices as well as domestic price increases.
The price of Indian basket of crude surged from $66 a barrel in April to around $74 currently.
Data released earlier this week showed retail inflation jumped to a 4-month high of 4.87% in May on costlier food items such as fruits, vegetables and fuel. The RBI mainly takes into account retail inflation data while formulating monetary policy.
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