The Acting Director General of the Census and Statistics said, issuing the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for December 2020, that headline inflation as measured by the Year-on-Year change (The percentage change in the current month NCPI over same month NCPI of last year) based on the NCPI has been compiled as 4.6 per cent. The headline inflation reported for the month of November 2020 was 5.2 per cent.
Contributions to the inflation rate of December 2020 from food group and non-food group are3.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively. Whilst contributions of food and non-food groups to the inflation in December 2019 were 3.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively, resulting in a headline inflation of 6.2 per cent.With respect to December 2019, the reported increase in percentage of food group was mainly due to higher price levels prevailed in December 2020, particularly prices of coconuts, turmeric powder, coconut oil, Mysour dhal, big onions, chili powder and potatoes.
Comparing the month-on-month changes, NCPI in December 2020 has increased to 141.2 from 139.8 reported in November 2020. This shows an increase of 1.4 index points or 1.0 percentage as compared to November 2020. The month-on-month change was contributed by increases of index values of food items by 1.02 per cent and non-food items by 0.01 per centrespectively.
Price increases of food items were reported for coconuts, vegetables, potatoes, rice, red onions, green chilies, eggs, limes, Mysour dhal, fresh fish, big onions, dried fish, tamarind, chili powder, green gram, coconut oil, dried chilies and canned fish. However, price decreases of food items were reported for sugar and fresh fruits.
The increases in index values of non-food groups in December 2020 compared to the previous month was mainly due to the price increases in groups of items ‘Transport’ (Bus fare )and‘Health’. Very slight price increases were reported in ‘Clothing and Footwear’ and ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’. However, price decrease in group of items was reported in ‘Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’ (Arecanuts) compared to the preceding month and very slight price decrease was reported in group of ‘Furnishing, Household equipment and Routine household maintenance’ as well. Meanwhile, the price indices of ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other fuels’, ‘Communication’, ‘Recreation and Culture’, ‘Education’ and ‘Restaurants and Hotels’ groups remained unchanged during the month.
Core inflation, which reflects the underlying inflation by excluding volatile items of food, energy and transport groups in the economy as measured by the Year-on-Year change based on NCPI for December 2020 has increased to 4.7 per cent from 4.5 per cent in November 2020.
