Central Bank’s take on April inflation

The Central Bank said yesterday that the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI) (2002=100), computed by the Department of Census and Statistics increased marginally by 0.1%, to 233.4 in April from 233.2 in March 2011.

“It is noteworthy that the Index still remains below its level in February 2011 (233.9).

However, the year-on-year inflation moved up to 9.8% in April from 8.6% in March 2011, mainly due to the base effect,” the bank said.

Inflation on an annual average basis also increased to 6.6% in April from 6.2% in the previous month. Meanwhile, core inflation on the year-on-year basis increased to 4.7% in April 2011 from 3.6% in March 2011 while the annual average rate continued to decrease to 5.1% in April from 5.3% in the previous month.

The contribution to the monthly increase of 0.1% in the Index came from price increases in the non-food items, mainly due to the revision in the prices of fuel and gas during the month. Prices in the Food sub category, actually declined by 1.7%.

Within this category, prices of almost all major food items such as rice, vegetables, green chilies, most varieties of fresh fish, big onions, red onions, eggs, coconut and coconut oil declined due to improvements in supply.

Prices of chicken however moved up due to seasonal demand, while price increases were also registered for fruits and potatoes.

Prices in the sub category of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 3.1% due to the upward revision in the prices of gas and kerosene oil while prices in the transport sub category increased by 2.8% mainly due to the price increases in petrol and diesel.

Meanwhile, price increases were also registered in the sub categories of clothing and footwear (0.9%); furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.0%); recreation and culture (0.3%); and miscellaneous goods and services (1.2%).