The overall rate of inflation as measured by the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) in October saw its point-to-point decreasing for the first time in 13 months to 66.0% against its previous month of 69.8% while its annualised average increased to 38.3% against 33.4%.

The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy decreased to 49.7% in October 2022 from 50.2% in September 2022, while annual average core inflation increased to 27.8% in October 2022 from 24.1% in September 2022.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, the Year on Year inflation of Food Group decreased to 85.6% in October 2022 from 94.9% in September 2022 and the Year on Year inflation of Non-Food Group also decreased to 56.3% in October 2022 from 57.6% in September 2022.

For the month of October 2022, on Year-an-Year basis, contribution to inflation by food commodities was 28.09%. 

The contribution of Non-Food items was 37.85%. This was mainly due to increases in value change in groups of ‘Transport’ (13.28%), ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’, (7.71%), ‘Restaurants & Hotels’ (4.88%), ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ (2.61%), ‘Education’ (1.91%), ‘Health’ (1.84%), ‘Clothing and Footwear’ (1.87%), ‘Furnishing Household Equipment and routine Household Maintenance’ (1.67%), ‘Alcoholic Beverages Tobacco and Narcotic’ (0.74%), ‘Recreation and Culture’ (0.61 %) and ‘Communication’ (0.74%).

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