Cabinet nod to rebase NCPI calculation year

• Current base year of 2013 is to be changed to 2021 from Jan 2023

The Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting on Monday has approved rebasing the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) and Colombo Consumers Price Index (CCPI) with newer expenditure weights and new base years from January 2023.

“It was decided to update the NCPI from base year 2013=100 to the base year 2021 =100, process and publication of new NCPI and National Level Inflation Rate every 21 days from January 2023,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena said yesterday.

Speaking at the post-Cabinet media briefing, he described that the NCPI is a key determinant of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflation while being a more descriptive indicator of overall inflation in the country.

“The reference year for the first data series of the NCPI is 2013. The items contained in the goods and services basket and the weights of goods and services should also be updated to reflect the current consumption expenditure of households in the country,” he added. The weighing for the updated NCPI was based on consumer spending in 2019.

Preparation and publication of the inflation rate for the urban areas of the Colombo District by updating the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) and for the new base year 2021=100, covering the urban areas of the Colombo District from January 2023.

The proposal to this effect is based on measures taken by the Department of Census and Statistics submitted by the President in his capacity as the Finance Minister was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.