Inflation decreases to 7% in March

Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Headline inflation decreased to 7% in March 2020 from 8.1% in February 2020, the Census and Statistics Department said today.

This was driven by monthly decrease of prices of the items in the Food category.

Accordingly, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 14.1% in March 2020 from 16.3% in February 2020. Meanwhile, Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) recorded at 1.8% in March 2020.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased to 4.9% in March 2020 from 4.5% in February 2020.

Monthly change of NCPI recorded at -1.3% in March 2020 due to declines observed in prices of items in the Food category, driven by the seasonal supply of food crops and timely intervention of the Government to reduce prices of certain food items amid COVID-19 outbreak.

Accordingly, within the Food category, prices of vegetables, red onions, rice and dhal recorded decreases in March 2020. However, within the Non-Food category, prices of the items in Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (beetle leaves); and Health (payments to medical tests) sub-categories recorded increases.

Continuing its decreasing trend for the fifth consecutive month, the core inflation (Y-O-Y) decreased further to 3.2% in March 2020 from 3.4% in February 2020. Meanwhile, annual average core inflation decreased to 5.2% in March 2020 from 5.5% in February 2020.