Food retail prices record 15% increase in one year

COLOMBO (News 1st); Independent policy think tank based in Colombo, Advocata Institute's in its 'Bath Curry Indicator (BCI)'  says that an increase of 15% has been recorded in food retail prices from November 2021 to December 2021.

The indicator racks the monthly changes in the retail price of food, and the prices are collected from the “Weekly Indicators” that the Central Bank publishes.

The Advocata Institute stated that much of this increase is driven by rising prices of vegetables. Accordingly, a 100g of Green Chilies, which was at Rs. 18 increased to Rs. 71, which is a 287% increase in just one month.

Similarly, prices of Brinjals have increased by 51%, red onions by 40% and beans and tomatoes by 10%.

Overall, since 2019, prices have almost doubled, and compared to December 2020, prices have increased by 37%.

Accordingly, an average family of four, who spent Rs. 1,165 weekly on the BCI basket of food items in December 2020 now has to pay Rs 1593 for the same basket of goods just one year later.