WPI inflation spikes to record 15.88% in May on costlier food items, crude oil

Wholesale price-based inflation rose to a record high of 15.88 percent in May on rising prices of food items and crude oil.

The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was 15.08 percent in April and 13.11 percent in May last year.

”The high rate of inflation in May 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food articles, basic metals, non-food articles, chemicals & chemical products and food products, etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

The WPI inflation has remained in double-digits for the 14th consecutive month since April last year and has been in the upper trajectory for three straight months.

Inflation in food articles in May was 12.34 percent, as prices of vegetables, wheat, fruits, and potato witnessed a sharp spike over the year-ago period.

The rate of price rise in vegetables was 56.36 percent, while in wheat it was 10.55 percent, and in egg, meat, and fish, inflation was 7.78 percent.

In the fuel and power basket, inflation was 40.62 percent, while in manufactured products and oil seeds, it was 10.11 percent and 7.08 percent, respectively.

Inflation in crude petroleum and natural gas was 79.50 percent in May.

Retail inflation in May was 7.04 percent, remaining above the Reserve Bank’s inflation target for the fifth straight month.

To tame stubbornly high inflation, the RBI hiked its key interest rate by 40 basis points in May and 50 basis points in June.

The central bank, last week, also raised the inflation projection by 100 basis points to 6.7 percent for 2022-23.