New Delhi : The annual wholesale inflation rate eased to 9.59 per cent in April, marking a second consecutive month of decline.

The 9.59 per cent year-on-year rise in the official monthly wholesale price index (WPI) during April is marginally below the preceding month's 9.90 per cent and a 16-month high of 10.06 per cent reached in February.

The latest inflation figure suggests a cooling, following a period that saw the headline rate surge from negative to double digits within just six months (from minus 0.17 per cent in August 2009 to 10.06 per cent in February 2010).

With the ‘base effect' — courtesy, the higher inflation levels of the year-ago period — coming into play in the coming months, there is every likelihood of a further easing in the headline rate taking place.