Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index which followed an increasing trend since October 2021, declined to 66.0% in October 2022 from 69.8% in September 2022.
Following a similar trend, the Food inflation decreased to 85.6% in October 2022 from 94.9% in September 2022, while the Non-Food inflation decreased to 56.3% in October 2022 from 57.6% in September 2022.
The change in the CCPI measured on month-on- month basis decreased by 0.35% in October 2022 after seventeen consecutive months. This was mainly contributed by the monthly decrease of the prices of the items in the Food category, which amounted to 0.75%.
Accordingly, within the Food category, significant decreases were observed in prices of Fresh Fish, Dry Fish and Rice. Nevertheless, the Non-food category recorded a monthly increase in October 2022 due to the price increases observed in Communication (Mobile, Fixed Phone and Internet Charges), Clothing and Footwear, Restaurant and Hotels sub-categories during the month.
However, Transport (Petrol and Diesel) sub-category decreased in October 2022 contributing to moderate the overall monthly increase in the Non-food category to a greater extent.
Meanwhile, annual average inflation rose to 38.3% in October 2022 from 33.4% in September 2022.
The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy decreased to 49.7% in October 2022 from 50.2% in September 2022, while annual average core inflation increased to 27.
8% in October 2022 from 24.1% in September 2022.
Related: CCPI inflation would start falling down from this month: CBSL Governor