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 per cent in May on rising prices of food items and crude oil.

The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was 15.08 per cent in April and 13.11 per cent 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 digit 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 per cent, as prices of vegetables, wheat, fruits and potato witnessed sharp spike over the year-ago period.

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

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

Inflation in crude petroleum and natural gas was 79.50 per cent in May.

Retail inflation in May was 7.04 per cent, 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 inflation projection by 100 basis points to 6.7 per cent for 2022-23.