Inflation rises to 7.6% in January

Sri Lanka’s headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year change in the National Consumer Price Index has increased to 7.6 percent in January from 6.2 percent in December, the Statistics Office of the Sri Lanka Central Bank (CBSL) said.

The rise in inflation was driven by the monthly increase in prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories.

Food inflation has increased substantially from 8.6 percent in December 2019 to 13.7 percent in January 2020, the highest since November 2017. Non-food inflation has stood at 3.0 percent in January 2020.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased to 4.1 percent in January 2020 from 3.5 percent in December 2019.

The monthly change of NCPI recorded at 1.5 percent in January 2020 and it was due to the price increases observed in the items of both Food and Non-food categories.

The core inflation, which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, decreased from 5.2 percent in December 2019 to 3.9 percent in January 2020, on a year-on-year basis, recording the lowest since January 2019.