Inflation increases to 14%

COLOMBO (News 1st); Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index , increased to 14.0% in December 2021 from 11.1% in November 2021, states the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).

Meanwhile, on an annual average basis, the NCPI increased to 7.0% in December 2021 from 6.2% in November 2021.

Inflation was driven by monthly increases of prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories.

Subsequently, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 21.5% in December 2021 from 16.9% in November 2021, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) also increased to 7.6% in December 2021 from 6.2% in November 2021.

Monthly change of NCPI recorded at 3.68% in December 2021 due to increases observed in prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories which were 3.00% and 0.68% , respectively. Accordingly, within the Food category, prominent increases were observed in prices of vegetables, rice, and green chillies.

Further, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the Restaurants and Hotels, and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (Arrack, Betel leaves) sub-categories during the month.

The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy increased to 10.8% in December 2021 from 8.8% in November 2021, while annual average core inflation increased to 5.5% in December 2021 from 5.0% in November 2021.