The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation rose by 0.55 percentage points during the week to 7.41 per cent (provisional) from 6.86 per cent in the previous week and 5.65 per cent in the corresponding week last year.

This is the highest since 7.77 per cent recorded in the week ended February 22, 1997.

Since the beginning of the current fiscal, the rate of inflation has increased by over two percentage points. This is mainly on account of increase in the prices of primary food articles, especially vegetables, since the beginning of 1998-99.Primary food article prices have risen by 9.72 per cent, while that of vegetables rose by a whopping 54.95 per cent.

In the latest week, the Primary Articles Index rose 1.1 per cent, while that of vegetables spurted by 6 per cent.

However, there does not seem to beany revival in demand in the economy as the price increase is mainly restricted to primary food articles. The prices of manufactured products have increased by only 1.74 per cent so far in the year.

During the week under review, the official Wholesale Price Index for `all commodities' (base:1981-82=100) stood at 347.7 as against 346.0 for the previous week, recording an increase of 0.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, inflation based on the final index for the week ended May 2 stood at 6.5 per cent compared to the provisionally estimated 6.0 per cent. The final index for all commodities for the week ended May 2 was at 343.1 as against 341.8 in the provisional index.

In comparison, inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for industrial workers has already crossed 10.5 per cent in may. The comparable figure for WPI inflation was 6.4 per cent.

According to latest figures available on the break-up of the primary articles, prices of potatoes have risen by 126.7 per cent between June 13 and March 14.

During thereference week, commodities which registered a substantial fluctuation were typewriters (up 11 per cent), bajra and mesta (up 8 per cent each), handloom cloth (up 7 per cent) and rape & mustard oil (up 6 per cent).