News Tonight

For the week ended May 7, country's food inflation remained at 7.47%, dropping slightly from 7.7% during the last week, as rates of pulses and veggies came down.

As per official data, this is the third successive weekly decline in the food price index.

The fuel index declined to 12.21% during the period under review as against 12.25% during the last week.

But, the fuel index is projected to go up after it factors in the Rs 5 per litre increase in petrol rates.

As per facts issued by the ministry of commerce and industry, the index of primary articles also came down to 10.94% in the period under review as against 11.96% during the last week.

The following are the yearly increase and decrease in rates of a few main commodities, which form the sub-index for food articles:

Onions: 10.53% Vegetables: (-) 3.61% Fruits: 30.58% Potatoes: 1.99% Milk: 4.65% Eggs, meat, fish: 5.67% Cereals: 4.79% Rice: 2.51% Wheat: (-) 0.06% Pulses: (-) 8.87%

The fall in food inflation, will however, not bring much cheer to officials as inflation has now stretch to non-food items such as manufacturing items, as admitted by the central banking institution in its twelve-monthly monetary report.

The central bank had stated that it will carry on focusing on lowering inflation, even if it means sacrificing growth in the short-run.