Sri Lanka’s inflation fell in April-Central Bank

Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index fell to 5.2 per cent in April from 5.4 per cent in March, the Central Bank said in a media release on Friday.

This was solely driven by the statistical effect of the high base which prevailed in April 2019. Meanwhile, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) was recorded at 13.2 per cent in April and Non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) declined to 2.1 per cent in April from 2.5 per cent in March.

The change in the CCPI measured on an annual average basis increased marginally to 4.8 per cent in April from 4.7 per cent in March. Monthly change of CCPI recorded at 0.1 per cent was due to price increases observed in the items of the Food category.

Within the Food category, prices of coconut, condiments, coconut oil and dried fish recorded increases in April 2020.

“However, timely intervention of the government to reduce prices of certain food items, such as rice, dhal, big onion and canned fish, amidst the COVID-19 outbreak moderated the price increases observed in the food category,” the release said.

Meanwhile, prices of items in the Non-Food category, which usually exhibit increases in the month of April with seasonal demand, remained unchanged due to lockdown imposed with the COVID-19 outbreak.

The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, increased to 3.1 per cent in April from 2.9 per cent in March. However, annual average core inflation declined to a 5-month low of 4.7 per cent in April from 4.9 per cent in March.