The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation of the country rose to 2.61 per cent in May, marking a 15-month high, the government said on Friday.

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry said the positive rate of inflation in May is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, manufacture of food products, crude petroleum & natural gas, mineral oils and other manufacturing.

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The month over month change in WPI index for the month of May 2024 stood at 0.20 per cent as compared to April this year.

As per the data released by the ministry, the Food Index consisting of ‘food articles’ from primary articles group and ‘food product’ from manufactured products group have increased to 185.7 in May from 183.6 in April 2024.

The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index increased to 7.40 per cent in May from 5.52 per cent in April.

The index for primary articles increased by 0.54 to 7.40 per cent in May to 187.7 (provisional) from 186.7 (provisional) for April 2024. Further, the prices of food articles (1.48 to 7.40 per cent ) and minerals (1.08 to 7.40 per cent ) increased in May as compared to April.

Prices of non-food articles (-1.26 to 7.40 per cent ) and crude petroleum & natural gas (-3.56 to 7.40 per cent ) declined in May as compared to April.

The index for Fuel & Power declined by 2.71 per cent to 150.6 (provisional) in May from 154.8 (provisional) for the month of April this year.

Prices of mineral oils and coal remain unchanged in May, 2024 as compared to April 2024 while the prices of electricity (-11.67 per cent) declined in May 2024 as compared to April 2024, the data said.

The index for manufactured products increased by 0.64 per cent to 141.7 (provisional) in May from 140.8 (provisional) for April.

On Wednesday, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) released the retail inflation data saying the headline retail inflation for May eased to the lowest in a year at 4.75 per cent .

Corresponding inflation rate for rural and urban is 5.28 per cent and 4.15 per cent, respectively. All India inflation based on General CPI is lowest for the month of May 2024 after May 2023.

It is less than 6 per cent since September 2023, the government data said. Notably, last month in April, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in April was at 4.83 per cent, lowest after May 2023.