Wholesale inflation eases to 3.85 pc in February
New Delhi (PTI): The wholesale price based inflation eased for the ninth consecutive month to 3.85 per cent in February on easing prices of manufactured items and fuel and power, showed the government data released on Tuesday.
The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate was 4.73 per cent in January this year and 13.43 per cent in February 2022.
Inflation in food articles, however, rose to 3.81 per cent in February, as against 2.38 per cent in January.
"Decline in the rate of inflation in February 2023 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, non-food articles, food products, minerals, computer, electronic & optical products, chemicals & chemical products, electrical equipment and motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers," the commerce and industry ministry said.
Inflation in pulses was 2.59 per cent, while in vegetables was (-)21.53 per cent. Inflation in oil seeds was (-)7.38 per cent in February 2023.
Fuel and power basket inflation eased to 14.82 per cent from 15.15 per cent in the preceding month. In manufactured products it was 1.94 per cent, against 2.99 per cent in January.
The deceleration in WPI comes in line with the dip in retail inflation, data of which was released on Monday.
Consumer price index based retail inflation declined to 6.44 per cent in February from 6.52 per cent in January.
In its monetary policy review last month, the Reserve Bank of India had hiked key interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.50 per cent, saying core inflation still remains sticky.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
