Friday, December 9 2005 17:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government today (Dec 9, 2005) said it was confident of keeping inflation below 5 per cent even as the weekly wholesale prices rose marginally to 4.54 per cent for the week ended November 26.

Rise in prices of fruits and vegetables, tea, eggs, edible oils, textiles, cranes and tractors pushed up inflation marginally to 4.54 per cent from 4.32 per cent a week ago.

Yet, the inflation was much lower than 7.3 per cent recorded a year ago.

"Inflation was expected to be around five per cent," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after tabling the Mid-Year Review of the Economy in Parliament today.

The review was more optimistic on the price situation and stated: "With appropriate monetary and fiscal measures, it should be possible to contain annual average inflation to below 5-5.5 per cent in 2005-06 (as projected by RBI)."

Despite the rapid rise in global crude prices, the review said: "Domestic inflation has remained contained at a moderate level and there are no fundamental macro-economic imbalances."

The 52-week average inflation came down to 5.3 per cent till October one, this year from 6.2 per cent a year ago. Till November 19, the average inflation was further lower at 5 per cent this year from 6.4 per cent a year ago.

For the week ended November 26, Wholesale Price Index rose by 0.1 per cent to 198.2 points from 198.1 a week ago and 189.6 a year ago.

The Government revised upward inflation figure to 4.61 per cent for the week ended October one, from provisional 4.24 per cent, while WPI stood corrected at 197.6 points as against the earlier estimate of 196.9 points.