Inflation up 5% in Oct.

Year-on-Year inflation based on NCPI for October 2016 has been calculated as 5.0%. The inflation of September 2016 was 4.7%. 

In October 2016 compared to October 2015, the expenditure value of food group and non-food group has increased by 2.3% and 2.8% respectively.

The Department of Census and Statistics yesterday released the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for October 2016. The NCPI has been calculated as 114.7 for October 2016. This shows an increase of 1.2 index points or a percentage of 1.1 compared to September’s index of 113.5. 

“This monthly change is due to the increase of expenditure value of food items by 0.79% and the increase of expenditure value of non-food items by 0.22%,” Director General of Census and Statistics Dr. Amara Satharasinghe said in a communiqué issued on the National Consumer Price Index.

The expenditure value of the food group has increased by 0.79% in October 2016 compared to September 2016. The increase in the expenditure value of the food commodity in October 2016 compared to that of September 2016 was due to the price increases in rice, coconut, limes, vegetables, dried fish, coconut oil, pineapple, banana, sugar, dhal-masoor, red onions, garlic, wheat flour and chicken.  

However, decreases in value change in the index were reported for papaw, mangoes, fresh fish, eggs, green chilies, potatoes and big onions. The expenditure value of the non-food group has increased by 0.22% in October 2016 compared to that of September 2016. This was due to the expenditure value increases in non-food commodity groups of ‘Alcoholic Beverages Tobacco and Narcotics’, ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ and ‘Recreation and Culture’. The groups of ‘Clothing and Footwear’, ‘Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance’ and ‘Restaurant and Hotels’ recorded very small expenditure value increases compared to the previous month of September. The expenditure value of ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’, ‘Health’, ‘Transport’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Education’ groups remained unchanged during the month. The expenditure value increase in ‘Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’ was mainly due to price increases in tobacco products with effect from the beginning of October 2016.