Friday, March 18 2005 13:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Inflation breached the 5.0 per cent figure with price level rising for the second consecutive week by 0.30 per cent to 5.3 per cent in the week ended March 5 despite cheaper fruits and vegetables.

The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose from the previous week's level of 4.95 per cent basically due to costlier manufactured products including edible oils.

The price level stood at 4.79 per cent in the previous year period.

The WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 188.9 points despite cheaper mass consumption primary articles, while fuel prices remained unchanged even as world oil prices touched $ 55 a barrel. The index was 179.4 points in the year ago period.

Government revised upwards inflation to 5.77 per cent during the week ended January 8 as against the provisional estimate of 5.6 per cent.

The WPI stood corrected at 188.9 points during the second week of January as compared to provisional figure of 188.6 points.