Wholesale price inflation rises to 13.11% in February

Business

Wholesale price inflation remained above 10% for the 11th straight month in February, rising marginally to 13.11% from 12.96% in January. The December 2021 wholesale price index has been revised upwards to 14.27% from a previous estimate of 13.56%.

Wholesale inflation was 4.83% in February 2021. Fuel and electricity inflation hit 31.5% this February, down slightly from January’s 32.3%, while manufactured goods inflation rose to 9.84% from 9.42%, suggesting that manufacturers have begun to pass on some of their rising input costs to consumers.

Primary items continued to post elevated inflation of 13.39%, while the grocery index fell to 8.47% in February from a 24-month high of 9.55% in January.

The sequential trend was slightly different, with fuel and electricity inflation rising the most. The WPI index rose 1.4%m/m in February, with fuel and electricity inflation posting the highest rise of 4.35%. Finished goods grew 0.95%, while groceries and primary items rose 0.06% and 1.09%, respectively.

“The high rate of inflation in February 2022 is mainly due to the increase in prices of mineral oils, base metals, chemicals & chemical products, crude oil & natural gas, food items and non-food items, etc. compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” it says in an official statement from the Office of the Economic Adviser, Industry and Domestic Trade Promotion Department at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The National Bureau of Statistics is expected to release the Consumer Price Index, which measures retail inflation, later this evening.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *