December annual inflation quickens to 4.9% y/y

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s annual inflation edged up to 4.9 per cent in December from a year earlier, slightly above expectations, from 4.7 per cent in November on a new consumer price index, Government data showed on Friday.

Annual average inflation as measured by a 12-month moving average slowed to 6. 7 per cent this month, from November’s 6.9 per cent.

A Reuters poll by 10 analysts had expected annual inflation to edged up to 4.8 per cent and annual average inflation to slow to 6.7 per cent.

The Department of Census and Statistics in June introduced a new index based on a 2006/2007 survey, replacing an earlier one that had 2002 as a base year.