November inflation down to 4.1%

Thursday, 22 December 2016 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In a communiqué issued on the National Consumer Price Index, Census and Statistics Director General Dr. Amara Satharasinghe said that year on year inflation based on NCPI has decreased to 4.1% in November 2016 from 5.0% in October 2016.

The reason for decrease in inflation was due to the comparatively higher price levels prevailed in November 2015. In November 2016 contribution to the inflation from food group and non-food group are 0.7% and 3.4% respectively.

The Department of Census and Statistics has released the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for the month of November 2016. NCPI has been calculated as 116.6 for November 2016.

This shows an increase of 1.9 index points or a percentage of 1.7 compared to the previous month’s (October) index of 114.7. This monthly change was due to the increase of expenditure value of food items by 0.50% and increase of expenditure value of non-food items by 1.17%.

The expenditure value of food commodity group has increased by 0.50% in November 2016 compared to October 2016. The increase in expenditure value of food commodity in November 2016 compared to October 2016 was due to the price increases in rice, coconut, vegetables, potatoes, limes, big onions, tea leaves, dhal – masoor, coconut oil, sprats(dry) and red onions. However, price decreases were reported for fresh fish, papaw, chicken, banana, mangoes, eggs, pineapple and green chilies.

The expenditure value of non food commodity group has increased by 1.17% in November 2016 compared to that of October 2016. This was mainly due to the expenditure value increases in non food commodity groups of ‘Health’, ‘Communication’, ‘Alcoholic beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’, ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other fuels’, ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’, ‘Recreation and Culture’, ‘Furnishing, Household equipment and Routine household maintenance’ and ‘Clothing and Footwear’.

Further, very small increases in expenditure value were reported for groups of ‘Transport’ and ‘Restaurant and Hotels’ compared to the previous month.

The expenditure value of ‘Education’ group remained unchanged during the month. The expenditure value increases in ‘Health’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Alcoholic beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’ was due to price increases as a result of implementation of new Value Added Tax (VAT) rates with effect from 1 November.