Inflation rises in February 

Headline inflation in Sri Lanka as measured by the year-on-year change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100)1 increased to 2.4 per cent in February from 1.2 per cent in January. 

Meanwhile, year-on-year non-food inflation increased to 6.7 per cent in February from 6.5 per cent in January while food inflation also increased to -2.9 per cent in February from -4.8 per cent in January, the Central Bank said quoting data from the Census and Statistics Department.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis marginally decreased to 1.7 per cent in February from 1.8 per cent in January.

The month on month change of the NCPI was -0.5 per cent in February. This was mainly due to a decrease in the prices of the items in the food category where vegetables, green chillies, rice, coconuts, limes, big onion and banana recorded significant decreases.

However, on a month-on-month basis, the prices of the items in the non-food category increased among which the education sub-category recorded the highest increase. Further, health; transport; alcoholic beverages and tobacco; and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels sub-categories also reported increases during the month.

The core inflation, which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, increased from 5.1 per cent in January to 5.5 per cent in February on a year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, annual average core inflation also increased from 2.7 per cent in January to 3 per cent in February, it was stated.