May inflation: Annual average down, up year-on-year

The Central Bank said that inflation in May was down on an annual average basis though up year on year.

Inflation, as measured by the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI) (2006/07=100) computed by the Department of Census and Statistics, decreased to 5.6% in May 2012 from 5.7% in April 2012, on an annual average basis, while it increased to 7.0% in May 2012 from 6.1% in the previous month, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

In addition, core inflation, in terms of both annual average and YoY, decreased to 6.0% and 4.8%, respectively, in May 2012 compared to April 2012.

The general price level as indicated by the Index recorded an increase of 1.4% in May 2012 over that of the previous month, with the CCPI increasing in absolute terms to 162.1 from 159.8.

The contribution to the monthly increase in the Index came mainly from price increases in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages category (by 2.5%) followed by the Non-Food category (by 0.6%).

The upward revision of the prices of wheat flour, bread and milk powder and the rise in the prices of vegetables, lime, green chilli, red onion, potato and fresh fish and sea food owing to seasonal factors, contributed to the increase in the CCPI. However, a decline in the prices of fruits, leafy vegetables, big onion, eggs and sugar was also reported during the month.

Within the Non-Food category, prices increased in the sub-categories of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (by 1.2%); Clothing and Footwear (by 0.8%); Miscellaneous Goods and Services (by 0.5%); Education (by 0.3%); Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (by 0.3%) and Transport (by 0.1%).

Meanwhile, the prices in the sub-categories of Health; Communication; and Recreation and Culture remained unchanged during the month.