Nationwide food inflation peaks to 86%

The nationwide food inflation has peaked to 85.8% in September up from 84.6% in August.

Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) increased to 73.7% in September from 70.2% in August. 

This increase in Y-o-Y inflation was driven by the monthly increases of both Food and Non-Food categories. 

Accordingly, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 85.8% in September from 84.6% in August, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 62.8% in September from 57.1% in August.

CBSL said that the moderation observed in month on month inflation recently continued in September. 

Accordingly, monthly change of NCPI recorded at 2.34% in September due to price increases observed in items of both Non-Food and Food categories, which were 1.96% and 0.38%, respectively. 

Within the Non-Food category, increases were observed in prices of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (Electricity bill, Kerosene oil and Water bill) and Miscellaneous Goods and Services sub-categories during the month. 

Further, within the Food category, increases were observed in prices of Fruits, Wheat Flour and Chicken. However, prices of Rice, Sugar and Dhal decreased during the month.

The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy increased to 64.1% in September 2022 from 60.5% in August, while annual average core inflation increased to 31.0% in September from 26.0% in August.