Headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year (YoY) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) increased to 4.2% in July 2020 from 3.9% in June 2020, the Central Bank said yesterday.
This was mainly driven by monthly increase of prices of items in Non-food category along with the statistical effect of the low base prevailed in July 2019. Food inflation (YoY) increased to 10.9% in July 2020 from 10.0% in June 2020. Further, Non-food inflation (YoY) also increased marginally to 1.5% in July 2020 from 1.4% in June 2020.
The change in the CCPI measured on an annual average basis also increased marginally to 4.8% in July 2020 from 4.7% in June 2020.
Monthly change of CCPI recorded at 0.1% was mainly due to net effect of price changes observed in the items of the Non-food category. Within the Non-food category, prices of items in Health (payments to private hospitals/ nursing homes) sub-category increased during the month.
Meanwhile, prices of items in the Food category also recorded marginal increases in July 2020.
The core inflation (YoY), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, increased marginally to 3.2% in July 2020 from 3.1% in June 2020. However, annual average core inflation declined further to its sixteen months low of 4.0% in July 2020 from 4.2% in June 2020.
(FT)