Inflation touches 6.58 pc; Left threaten to launch agitation

NEW DELHI: With prices of food items continuing to rise, inflation rate has gone up to over two-year high of 6.58 per cent for the week ending January 27, raising speculation of tough government and RBI measures in coming days.

The Left parties, supporting the UPA government, have threatened to launch agitation, while demanding cut in petrol, diesel prices and ban on forward trading of essential commodities to contain inflation.

Prices have gone up despite assurance by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance ministry decision to cut down customs duty on maize, edible oil, cement and other products, besides monetary measures taken by the RBI.

Indicating additional measures, Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said, "we would take additional measures, which would help in containing inflation."

In fact, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation has been pushed up mainly by rise in prices of food articles like vegetables (0.7 per cent), eggs, meat and fish (1.4 per cent), milk (1.4 per cent), fruits and oil seeds (1.7 per cent each).

However, prices of pulses, sugar, processed food products and other manufacturing items marginally came down during the week.

WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 208.8 from 208.5 per cent. The index for primary articles, with 22.02 per cent weightage in the WPI, increased by 0.6 per cent to 215 from 213.7 the previous week.

Meanwhile, the index for fuel, power, light and lubricants (14.23 per cent weight) and manufacturing products having 63.75 per cent weight in the wholesale price index remained unchanged.