Inflation surpasses 54% for the first time in history

Sri Lanka’s headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index, soared to 54.6 percent in June from 39.1 percent in May this year, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) said yesterday (June 30) in a press release.

This increase in Y-o-Y inflation is driven by the monthly increases of both Food and Non-Food categories.

Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 80.1 percent in June from 57.4 percent in May, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 42.4 percent in June from 30.6 percent in May.

The monthly change of CCPI was recorded at 12.8 percent in June. The month-on-month change was contributed by the increases of Food items by 6.81 percent and Non-Food items by 5.99 percent, respectively.

Accordingly, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the transport (petrol, diesel and bus fare), restaurant & hotels, education, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (LP gas, materials for maintenance/reconstruction, firewood purchasing), miscellaneous goods and services (car, insurance), and several other groups.

Further, within the Food category, increases were mainly observed in the prices of sea fish, vegetables, bread, rice, milk powder, chicken, dried fish, Mysoor dhal, sugar, buns, eggs, potatoes, coconuts, chilli powder, biscuits, canned fish, red onions, ice-cream, infant milk powder, and big onions during the month.

Meanwhile, moving average inflation rose to 18.4 percent in June from 14.2 percent in May.

According to the DCS, the core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, increased to 39.9 percent in June from 28.4 percent in May.