Sri Lanka’s headline inflation soars to 29.8% in April 2022

Sri Lanka’s headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index increased to 29.8% in April from 18.7% in March, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said in a press release issued today.

This increase in Y-o-Y inflation was driven by the monthly increases in both food and non-food categories.

According to the CBSL, the country’s food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 46.6% in April from 30.2% in March, while non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) moved up to 22.0% in April from 13.4% in March.

The monthly change of CCPI was recorded at 9.25% in April due to price increases observed in items of both non-food and food categories which were 4.95% and 4.31%, respectively.

Accordingly, prices of items in the non-food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the transport (petrol and diesel), education (tuition fees), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel (housing rent, maintenance/reconstruction) and restaurant and hotels sub-categories. Further, within the food category, increases were observed in prices of milk powder, rice, bread, dhal, sugar and dried fish during the month.

Meanwhile, annual average inflation rose to 11.3% in April from 9.1% in March.

The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy soared to 22.0% in April from 13.0% in March, while annual average core inflation increased to 8.1% in April from 6.5% in March.