Issuing the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), for the month of February 2022, the Director General of Census and Statistics said 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 17.5%. The headline inflation reported for the month of January 2022 was 16.8%. Contributions to the inflation rate of February 2022 from the food group and non-food group are 11.7% and 5.8% respectively. Whilst contributions of food and non-food groups to the inflation in February 2021 were 3.2% and 1.0% respectively, resulting in a headline inflation of 4.2%. With respect to February 2021, the reported inflation for the month of February 2022 was mainly due to the higher price levels prevailed in both food and non-food groups. Accordingly, the Year-on-Year inflation of the food group increased to 24.7% in February 2022 from 24.4% in January 2022 and the Year-on-Year inflation of the non-food group increased to 11.0% in February 2022 from 10.2% in January 2022.
Comparing the month-on-month changes, NCPI in February 2022 has increased to 167.8 from 166.0 reported in January 2022. This shows an increase of 1.8 index points or 1.1 percentage as compared to January 2022. The month-on-month change was contributed by increases of index values of food items by 0.59% and nonfood items by 0.49% respectively.
Price increases of food items were reported for Rice, Mysore dhal, Milk powder, Fresh fruits, Coconuts, Chilli powder, Wheat flour, Red onions, Coconut oil, Fresh fish, Dried fish, Dried chilies, Chicken, Curry powder, Bread, Sugar, and Infant milk powder. However, decreases in index values were reported for Vegetables, Eggs, Limes, Green chilies, Big onions and Potatoes.
The increases in index values of non-food groups in February 2022 compared to the previous month was mainly due to the price increases in groups of items ‘Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics’ (Betel leaves), ‘Clothing and Footwear’, ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other fuels’ (Firewood),‘Furnishing, Household equipment and Routine household maintenance’, ‘Transport’(Petrol & Diesel, Cost of servicing of vehicles and Bus fare), ‘Recreation and Culture’, ‘Restaurants and Hotels’ and ‘Miscellaneous Goods and Services’. Meanwhile, the price indices of ‘Health’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Education’ groups remainedunchanged 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 the month of February 2022 was increased to 14.1% from 12.9% reported in month of January 2022.