SL’s food inflation surges to unbelievable 91% in July

Sri Lanka’s food inflation (Y-o-Y) surged to 90.9 per cent in July 2022 from 80.1 per cent in June 2022, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 46.5 per cent in July 2022 from 42.4 per cent in June 2022, the Department of Census and Statistics said on Friday.

Inflation levels in Sri Lanka are at historical highs largely due to the high cost and unavailability of fuel.

Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100)1 increased to 60.8 per cent in July 2022 from 54.6 per cent in June 2022. This increase in Y-o-Y inflation was driven by the monthly increases of both Non-Food and Food categories.

The department said the monthly change of CCPI was recorded at 4.51 per cent in July 2022 due to price increases observed in items of both Non-Food and Food categories which were 2.31 per cent and 2.20 per cent, respectively. Accordingly, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the Transport (petrol, diesel, air fare and bus fare), Restaurant and Hotels and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuel (LP gas, firewood and maintenance/reconstruction) sub-categories.

Further, within the Food category increases were observed in milk powder, rice and fresh fish. However, prices of vegetables, coconut and coconut oil decreased during the month.

Meanwhile, annual average inflation rose to 23.1 per cent in July 2022 from 18.4 per cent in June 2022. The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy increased to 44.3 per cent in July 2022 from 39.9 per cent in June 2022, while annual average core inflation increased to 16.7 per cent in July 2022 from 13.3 per cent in June 2022.