December inflation up 4.2%

The country’s Year-on-Year inflation based on NCPI for December 2016 has been calculated as 4.2%. Inflation of November 2016 was 4.1%. In December 2016 the contribution to the inflation from the food group and non-food group are 1.06% and 3.18% respectively. 

The Department of Census and Statistics has released the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for December 2016. NCPI has been calculated as 118.0 for December 2016. This shows an increase of 1.4 index points or a percentage of 1.2 compared to the previous month’s (November) index of 116.6. This monthly change was due to the increase of expenditure value of food items by 1.25% and a decrease of expenditure value of non-food items by 0.08%. 

In a communiqué issued on National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), Director General of Census and Statistics, Dr. Amara Satharasinghe, said that the increase in expenditure value of food commodity group in December 2016 compared to that of November 2016 was due to price increases in rice, coconut, fresh fish, big onions, potatoes, papaw, vegetables, eggs, coconut oil, green chilies and beef.  However, price decreases were reported for limes, chicken, banana, mangoes, dried chilies, pineapple and dried fish.

The decrease in expenditure value of the non-food commodity group in December 2016 compared to the preceding month was due to the expenditure value decreases in groups of ‘Alcoholic beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’, ‘Recreation and Culture’ and ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other fuels’. However, expenditure value increases were observed for groups of ‘Restaurant and Hotels’, ‘Furnishing, Household equipment and Routine household maintenance’, ‘Transport’ and ‘Clothing and Footwear’. Further, a very slight increase in expenditure value was reported for the group of ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ compared to the previous month. The expenditure value of ‘Health’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Education’ groups remain unchanged during the month.