Wholesale inflation rose to 2.37 percent in December 2024, driven by a rise in manufactured goods, according to government data released on Tuesday. This represents an increase from 1.89 percent recorded in November 2024 and 0.86 percent in December 2023.
“The positive inflation rate in December 2024 is mainly due to the increase in prices of food products, food manufacturing, other manufactured goods, textile and non-food manufacturing, etc. “, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in the statement.
According to the data, food inflation slowed slightly to 8.47 percent in December 2024 from 8.63 percent in the previous month. The inflation rate for vegetables was 28.65 percent, slightly higher than November’s 28.57 percent. Potato inflation remained high at 93.20 percent, while onion inflation reached 16.81 percent in December.
Some food items like cereals, pulses and wheat saw a reduction in inflation in December. The fuel and energy category recorded a deflation of 3.79 percent, an improvement from a deflation of 5.83 percent in November. Manufacturing inflation increased to 2.14 percent from 2 percent in the previous month.
On the retail side, data released on Monday indicated that inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to a four-month low of 5.22 percent in December, attributed to the fall in the prices of food products.
