Govt’s main statistics office rebases inflation indices

The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) rebased NCPI with a new base year (2021=100) and discontinued compilation of the NCPI (2013=100) series effective from January 2023.

Accordingly, on year-on-year basis, NCPI (2021=100) based headline inflation recorded at 53.2 per cent in January 2023. The food inflation recorded at 53.6 per cent while the non-food inflation recorded at 52.9 per cent in January 2023. Monthly change of the NCPI recorded at 0.69 per cent in January 2023 mainly due to price increases observed in items of the food and non-food categories which amounted to 0.08 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively. Furthermore, the NCPI based core inflation recorded at 52.0 per cent in January 2023.

During the period under review (18.02.2023 to 24.02.2023) crude oil prices showed a mixed performance. At the beginning of the period crude oil prices increased owing to optimism over Chinese demand and continued production curbs by major producers. However, prices reported declines later owing to grim global economic outlook, before accelerating again towards the end of the period with Russia’s announcement to cut its oil production from March 2023. Overall, during the period under review, Brent and WTI prices declined marginally.

Weekly Average Weighted Prime Lending Rate (AWPR) for the week ending 24th February 2023 decreased by 114 bps to 24.21 per cent compared to the previous week.

The reserve money decreased compared to the previous week mainly due to the decrease in the deposits held by the commercial banks with the Central Bank.The total outstanding market liquidity was a deficit of Rs. 53.937 bn by 24th February 2023, compared to a deficit of Rs. 125.151 bn by the end of last week.

By 24th February 2023, the All Share Price Index (ASPI) increased by 5.28 per cent to 9,315.87 points and the S&P SL 20 Index increased by 4.45 per cent to 2,833.45 points, compared to the index values of last week.

During the year up to 24th February 2023, the Sri Lankan rupee appreciated against the US dollar by 0.1 per cent. Given the cross currency exchange rate movements, the Sri Lankan rupee appreciated against the Japanese yen by 1.7 per cent, the Euro by 0.7 per cent and the pound sterling by 0.3 per cent while depreciating against the Indian Rupee by 0.04 per cent during this period.