Mar 21, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s nationwide inflation in February 2023 determined under the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) marginally increased to 53.6 percent from 53.2 percent recorded in January 2023 on a year-on-year basis, the Department of Census and Statistics reported Tuesday.

The NCPI for all items for the month of February 2023 is 204.1. An increase of 2.3 index points or 1.13 percentage compared to January 2023 for which the index was 201.8.

Year-on-Year inflation of the food group decreased to 49.0 percent in February 2023 from 53.6 percent in January and the Year-on-Year inflation of the non-food group increased to 57.4 percent in February from 52.9 percent in January 2023.

With respect to February 2022, the reported inflation for the month of February 2023 was mainly due to the higher price levels that prevailed in both food and non-food groups.

Contributions to the inflation rate of February 2023 from food group and non-food group are 22.13 percent and 31.46 percent respectively.

The Department of Census and Statistics has released the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) with a new index reference period and Inflation rate from January 2023. The NCPI with an index reference period 2013=100 has been updated to a new index reference period of 2021= 100.

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