Sri Lanka's inflation increases marginally in February

Sri Lanka's inflation rate has been continuing in   a sudden slump during Covid-19 crisis period to around 3 to 3.5 percent due to price hike in food and non food items, official sources said.  

Head line inflation increased to 3.3 per cent in February 2021 from 3.0 per cent in January 2021. This was driven by monthly increase of prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories, Central Bank announced.

Meanwhile, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 7.9 per cent in February 2021 from 6.8 per cent in January 2021.

However, Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) decreased marginally to 1.3 per cent in February 2021 from 1.4 per cent in January 2021.

The change in the CCPI measured on an annual average basis decreased to 4.1 per cent in February 2021 from 4.3 per cent in January 2021. Monthly change of CCPI recorded at 0.31 per cent in February 2021.

This was due to price increases observed in items of both Food and Non-food categories. Moreover, monthly changes of Food and Non-food categories recorded at 0.23 per cent and 0.08 per cent, respectively, in February.2021.

 Accordingly, within the Food category, prices of vegetables, green chilli, chicken and eggs increased in February 2021.

However, the price of potatoes recorded a decline during the month. Meanwhile, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded an increase during the month mainly due to price increases observed in the Transport (tyres, tubes and spare parts) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (maintenance/ reconstruction) sub-categories.

The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, decreased marginally to 2.6 per cent in February 2021 from 2.7 per cent in January 2021.

Moreover, annual average core inflation also decreased marginally to 3 per cent in February 2021 from 3.1 per cent in January 2021.

The Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) is compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics.