If you thought that there might be some respite for you from rising prices, think again.

Inflation, that rose to a 44-month high of 7.83 per cent for the week ended May 3, slipped marginally to 7.82 per cent for the week ended March 10, on account of rising prices of essential food items and some manufactured products.

Inflation was last above this level at 7.87 per cent on September 11, 2004 as per provisional figures and 7.86 per cent for the week ended September 18, 2004, according to final figures.

The WPI based index inflation stood at 5.74 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.

During the week, prices of food articles like fruits and vegetables, spices, coffee, masoor rose, compounding worries of the government and RBI amid a slowdown in industrial growth.

In order to arrest rising food prices, the government on March 31 had cut the import duty on all edible oils. It extended the ban on export of pulses for one more year. Last week, it also suspended chana, potato, soya oil and rubber from futures trading.

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