Col breaks back of working class family

By Malik Gunatilleke

The expenditure of an average working class household in the country has increased by Rs. 702 from that of December last year with the rising food prices contributing to 96% of this increase, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) revealed yesterday.

The Colombo Consumer’s Price Index (CCPI) for January was shown to be 6302.5, an increase of 5.8% from that of January. Each index point equates to Rs. 2.02 and this is reflected in the increase of Rs.702.90 in the value of the ‘market basket’ or the average expenditure of a family. This increase is the highest since 2005.The CCPI revealed that the expenditure value of the market basket had increased from Rs. 12,028 to Rs. 12,731 within just one month.

Most notably, the expenditure on food accounted for 333.8 of the index point increase or 96% of the entire rise in the cost of living over the past month. Other expenditure such as fuel, electricity and clothing had recorded increases of 6.6, 1.3 and 5.8 index points respectively.

The DCS revealed that the increases in the CCPI for January was mainly due to the increase in the price of bread, rice, wheat flour, sugar, milk, tea, coconut oil and some varieties of fish and meat. The DCS said the increase in the price of wheat flour and bread in particular had an adverse effect on the index as it made a significant difference to the CCPI market basket.

Vegetables also showed an increase of 2.61% since December 2007 while the price increase on items such as coconut, bread and rice had also contributed greatly to the rising cost of living.

The inflation for the month of January had also increased tremendously with the DCS reporting a 5.2% increase in inflation in Colombo when compared to the previous month.

Sri Lanka’s inflation rate is one of the highest among South Asian countries with a rate of 21.6% which is the highest recorded in Sri Lanka for more than a decade.