Inflation rises to 5.60 pc from 5.24 pc

After declining for 10 consecutive weeks, inflation rose to 5.6 per cent due to higher prices of edible items like fruits and vegetables, caused mainly due to the truckers' strike.

Inflation, measured by movements in wholesale prices, rose by 36 basis points for the week ended January 10 from 5.24 per cent in the previous week. It was 4.36 per cent a year ago.

The increase in the rate of price rise, noticed after a gap of more than two months, was due to an eight-day nation-wide strike by truck operators, which began on January 5.

Among the items that became expensive during the week were fruit and vegetables (9 pc), wheat (2 pc) and spices, milk, ragi and rice (1 pc each).

The index of primary articles increased by 2.2 per cent.

Though the index of fuel items remained unchanged during the week, the manufactured items index rose by 0.2 per cent.

In the manufactured food products category, oil cakes became expensive by eight per cent, canned fish by 43 per cent, and imported edible oil and coconut oil by seven per cent each.

Items that reported decline in prices include unrefined oil (eight pc) and groundnut oil (one pc). The prices of rubber and plastic products too went down marginally.