Wholesale price inflation rose to 2.37 percent in December 2024, driven by a rise in manufactured goods, government data released on Tuesday showed. This is an increase from 1.89% recorded in November 2024 and 0.86% in December 2023.

“The positive inflation rate in December 2024 is mainly due to the increase in prices of food items, manufacturing of food products, other manufactures, manufacturing of textiles and non-food items, etc.,” the Ministry said of Commerce and Industry in the statement.

According to the data, food inflation eased slightly to 8.47% in December 2024 from 8.63% in the previous month. The vegetable inflation rate was 28.65 percent, slightly higher than November’s 28.57 percent. Potato inflation remained high at 93.20%, while onions rose to 16.81% in December.

Some food items such as cereals, pulses and wheat experienced a reduction in inflation during December. The fuel and power category posted a deflation of 3.79 percent, improving from a deflation of 5.83 percent in November. Inflation for manufactured goods rose to 2.14% from 2% the previous month.

On the retail side, data released on Monday indicated that consumer price index (CPI) inflation eased to a four-month low of 5.22 percent in December, attributed to the fall in food prices.