Consumer prices rise 4.2% in October

COLOMBO, Oct 31 (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 4.2% in October from a year earlier, accelerating from  the previous month’s 3.9%, data from the Department of Census and Statistics showed on Monday. Consumer prices had hit a 32-month high of 6.0% in June.

Core annual inflation, which excludes fresh food, energy, transport, rice and coconuts, rose at a steady pace of 4.2%. It hit a 38-month high of 6.6% in May.

On a month-on-month basis, the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) rose 0.6% in

October, compared with a 0.3% fall in September.

October inflation, as measured on a 12-month moving average basis, hit a two-year high of 3.6% in October, accelerating from 3.4% touched in September.