January inflation up 4.2%

The year-on-year inflation based on the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) has increased to 6.5% in January 2017 from 4.2% in December 2016. 

Census and Statistics Director General Dr. Amara Satharasinghe said that the reason for increase in inflation was due to the comparatively lower price levels that prevailed in January 2016. 

In January 2016 contribution to the inflation from food group was -1.9% and non-food group was 1.2%. Nevertheless, in January 2017 contribution to the inflation from food group and non-food group were 2.9% and 3.6% respectively. 

The Department of Census and Statistics has released the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for the month of January 2017. NCPI has been calculated as 119.3 for January 2017. This shows an increase of 1.3 index points or a percentage of 1.1 compared to the previous month’s (December) index of 118.0. This monthly change was due to the increases of expenditure value of food items by 0.78% and non-food items by 0.35% respectively. 

The increase in expenditure value of food commodity group in January 2017 compared to that of December 2016 was due to the price increases in rice, coconuts, banana, coconut oil, green chilies, sugar, fresh fish, papaw, dried fish, potatoes and garlic. However, price decreases were reported for vegetables, limes, chicken, eggs, big onions, red onions, mangoes and dried chilies.

The increase in expenditure value of non food commodity group in January 2017 compared to the preceding month was due to the expenditure value increases in groups of ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’, ‘Transport’, ‘Restaurant and Hotels’, ‘Recreation and Culture’, ‘Education’ and ‘Clothing and Footwear’. 

However, expenditure value decreases were observed for groups of ‘Alcoholic beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’ and ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other fuels’. Further, a very slight increase in expenditure value was reported for group of ‘Furnishing, Household equipment and Routine household maintenance’ compared to the previous month. The expenditure value of ‘Health’ and ‘Communication’ groups remain unchanged during the month.