In December 2023, Headline Inflation, as measured by the year-on-year change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2021=100), rose to 4.0% from November’s 3.4%, aligning closely with Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) projections. Following five months of continuous deflation, the Food category witnessed a shift to 0.3% inflation in December 2023 from 3.6% deflation in November 2023. Concurrently, Non-Food inflation declined from 6.8% in November 2023 to 5.8% in December 2023.
The monthly change in CCPI for December 2023 reached 0.89%, attributed to a combination of a 1.16% increase in the Food category and a 0.27% decrease in the Non-Food category. Core inflation (Y-o-Y), reflecting the underlying inflation in the economy, decreased to 0.6% in December 2023, down from 0.8% in November 2023.
CBSL full text given below