INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sri Lankas National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) relieved year-on-year to 53.2% in January, after a 59.2% rise in December, the statistics
department said on Tuesday.Food rates were up 53.6% in January from a year ago, while non-food inflation was 52.9% greater, the Department
of Census and Statistics stated in a statement.Sri Lanka treked power costs by a substantial 66% recently, part of efforts to nail down a
$2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the island struggles to discover a way out of its worst financial crisis
The power tariff boost is the second in six months and is anticipated to slow the speed of inflation reduction, which has actually been
alleviating since last September
This is broadly in line with expectations as there is a high base impact, said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at equity research company
Power has actually ended up being a small part of the total inflation basket so there will be indirect effect however a significant boost is
not likely as numerous businesses will be not able to hand down the boost to customers
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is expected to keep rates of interest consistent next week after it raised them to the acme in nearly
twenty years last year to fight skyrocketing inflation
CBSL predicts that inflation will reach single digits at the end of this year.The NCPI catches wider retail price inflation throughout the
island country and is launched with a lag of 21 days every month.The Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), launched at the end of each month,
relieved to 54.2% in January, data showed.
