Census Dept. revises CPI base year, composition

The Department of Census and Statistics has revised the base year and the composition of the market basket of the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) with effect from January to reflect changes in the market.

The Department revised the base year to 2013 from the previous 2006/7 introduced in 2008, while increasing the non-food composition to 72% of the market basket from the earlier 59%, official data showed.

“Obsolete expenditure pattern and inappropriate price changes could lead to misleading signals in policy simulation and decision making,” the statistics office said in a statement.

Under the new basket, the Government has included alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics along with restaurants and hotels, which were not included in the previous basket.

The new basket has also more than double the total consumption expenditure, data showed.

Under the new index, the annual inflation rose 5.5% in January, accelerating from the last month’s 4.5%, while the 12-month moving average rose 4.3% this month from 4.0 a month recorded in December.

Inflation up 5.5% in January

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose to a six-month high of 5.5% in January from a year earlier, accelerating from the previous month’s 4.5% under a revised base-year and market basket, data from the Department of Census and Statistics showed on Tuesday. 

Core annual inflation, which excludes fresh food, energy, transport, rice and coconuts, rose to a record high of 7.0% in January compared with the previous month’s 5.8%, the index with a new base year of 2013 showed.

On a month-on-month basis, the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) rose 1.2% this month, up from last month’s 1.0%.

January inflation, as measured on a 12-month moving average basis, hit 4.3%.