30% YOY rise in food prices

Advocata’s ‘Bath Curry Indicator’ (BCI), which tracks the monthly changes in the price of a basket of commonly consumed food items has recorded a 30% increase between August 2020 and August 2021. 

Advocata said prices had soared due to a multitude of factors in the last few years. Prices of the same basket of food items tracked on the BCI is up 70% compared to August 2019. 

“This means that an average family, who spent Rs. 757 weekly on the BCI basket of food items in August 2019, now has to pay Rs. 1,288 for the same basket of goods. This is roughly Rs. 500 more than in 2019,” it said. 

The month of August however recorded a minor decrease in food prices compared to the previous month, with the prices falling by 1.57% driven by lower prices for onions, rice and green chillies, whilst vegetables such as beans and pumpkin increased.