August 31, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's consumer prices jumped to 15.3 percent in July, the Census & Statistics Department said Thursday, as prices of bread, fuel, cinema tickets rose to offset lower costs of vegetables. As a result the Colombo Consumer Price Index or CCPI ended at 4,650.0 in July. Prices of bread, wheat flour, kerosene, fuel, rice and curry, sugar, milk tea, dried chillies, limes, jam, cream cracker biscuits, cinema tickets and fish rose in August, which pushed inflation rate up from 14.7 percent in July, the department said.
On 12 month moving average inflation for August crept up to 10.8 percent from 10.4 percent in July.
The twelve month moving average is usually taken as the official inflation figure by the government.
There was a drop in prices of garlic, red onions, coconuts, eggs and vegetables.
