National inflation dips for second consecutive month

The Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (YoY) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) decreased to 65% in November 2022 from 70.6% in October 2022.

Similarly, the Food inflation (Y-o-Y) decreased to 69.8% in November 2022 from 80.9% in October 2022, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) decreased to 60.4% in November 2022 from 61.3% in October 2022.

The decline in the monthly change of the NCPI observed in October 2022 continued in November 2022 recording 0.27%. This was mainly contributed by the monthly decrease of the prices of the items in the Food category, which amounted to 0.49%.

National...

Accordingly, within the Food category, significant decreases were observed in prices of Fresh Fish, Sugar, Rice, Dry Fish and Chicken.

Nevertheless, the contribution from the Non-food category was 0.23% in November 2022 driven by the price increases observed in Clothing and Footwear, Health (Payments to Private Hospitals/Nursing Homes), Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services sub-categories during the month. However, Transport (Petrol) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (Materials for Maintenance) sub-categories decreased in November 2022.

The annual average inflation rose to 46.7% in November 2022 from 42.2% in October 2022. The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy decreased to 60.1% in November 2022 from 62.4% in October 2022, while annual average core inflation increased to 40.0% in November 2022 from 35.7% in October 2022.