Inflation up 6.2% in August 2020

The Central Bank said yesterday the headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) increased marginally to 6.2% in August 2020 from 6.1% in July 2020.

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

Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 13.2% in August 2020 from 12.9% in July 2020, whereas Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 1.1% in August 2020 from 1.0% in July 2020.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased to 6.1% in August 2020 from 5.9% in July 2020.

Monthly change of NCPI was recorded at 0.4% in August 2020 mainly due to increases observed in prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories. 

Within the Food category, increases were observed mainly in the prices of vegetables, turmeric powder and coconuts during August 2020. Moreover, within the Non-food category, prices of items in the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco sub-category recorded significant increases during the month. However, Health sub-category recorded a decline during the month with the reduction observed in payments to medical laboratory tests.

Further, core inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 4.6% in August 2020 from 4.5% in July 2020, while annual average core inflation decreased to 4.4% in August 2020 from 4.5% in July 2020.