New Delhi: Countr’s annual wholesale price-based inflation shot to a record 15.88 per cent, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Tuesday. As per the Ministry the WPI inflation was 13.11 per cent in May 2021.
At 15.88 per cent, the WPI inflation print for May is the highest in the current series, data for which is available starting April 2013. Also, economists had compared data from older WPI series and found inflation in April to be the highest in 30 years.
The ministry said that the high rate of inflation in May 2022 is primarily due to the rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum, food articles, basic metals, non-food articles, chemical products and food products etc.
The month-over-month change in the WPI index for the month of May 2022 stood at 1.38 per cent as compared to April 2022, the ministry added.
The rate of inflation based on the WPI food index increased from 8.88 per cent in April 2022 to 10.89 per cent in May 2022. The food index consisting of food articles from the primary articles group and food products from the manufactured products group has increased from 172.9 in April 2022 to 176.1 in May 2022.
“The index for this major group increased by 2.25 per cent to 154.4 (provisional) in May 2022 from 151.0 (provisional) for the month of April 2022. Prices of mineral oils (3.34 per cent) increased in May 2022 as compared to April 2022. Prices of coal and electricity remain unchanged,” it said.
For the month of March 2022 the final wholesale price index and inflation rate for all commodities (base: 2011-12=100) stood at 148.9 and 14.63 per cent respectively, the ministry added.
