Inflation decreases to 7% in March

• Moderation of food prices sees inflation decline from 8.1% in Feb.

Headline inflation decreased to 7% in March from 8.1% in February, the Census and Statistics Department said yesterday.

This was driven by monthly decrease of prices of the items in the Food category.

Accordingly, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 14.1% in March from 16.3% in February. Meanwhile, Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) recorded at 1.8% in March.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased to 4.9% in March from 4.5% in February.

Monthly change of NCPI recorded at -1.3% in March due to declines observed in prices of items in the Food category, driven by the seasonal supply of food crops and timely intervention of the Government to reduce prices of certain food items amid COVID-19 outbreak.

Accordingly, within the Food category, prices of vegetables, red onions, rice and dhal recorded decreases in March. However, within the Non-Food category, prices of the items in Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (beetle leaves); and Health (payments to medical tests) subcategories recorded increases.

Continuing its decreasing trend for the fifth consecutive month, the core inflation (Y-O-Y) decreased further to 3.2% in March from 3.4% in February. Meanwhile, annual average core inflation decreased to 5.2% in March from 5.5% in February.