Inflation as per CCPI soars to 39% in May

• Food inflation jumps 57.4%, non-food inflation up 46.6%

Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price 

Index (CCPI) has increased to 39.1% in May from 29.8% in April. 

This increase in Y-o-Y inflation was driven by the monthly increases of both Food and Non-Food categories.Subsequently, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 57.4% in May from 46.6% in April, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 30.6% in May from 22.0% in April.

The monthly change of CCPI recorded at 8.34% in May due to price increases observed in items of both Non-Food and Food categories which were 4.87% and 3.47%, respectively. 

Department of Census and Statistics said prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the Transport (Petrol, diesel and bus fare), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuel (LP gas and Materials for maintenance/reconstruction), Restaurant and Hotels and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (Car insurance) sub-categories. 

Further, within the Food category, increases were observed in prices of vegetables, fresh fish, rice, bread, dried fish and dhal during the month.

The annual average inflation rose to 14.2% in May from 11.3% in April.  The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy increased to 28.4% in May from 22.0% in April, while annual average core inflation increased to 10.2% in  May from 8.1% in April.