Inflation in December 2020 - NCPI

Statistics Department

2021.01.21

NCPI based Inflation decreased in December 2020

Headline Inflation

Year-on-year inflation : 4.6%

Annual Average inflation : 6.2%

Monthly Change : 1.03%

Core Inflation

Year-on-year inflation : 4.7%

Annual Average inflation : 4.1%

Monthly Change : -0.1%

		Movement of Year-on-Year % Change in
	20.0			NCPI
	15.0
cent	10.0
Per	5.0
	0.0	Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul	Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
	-5.0
		2019			2020
	-10.0	Headline	Food	Non-food

Contribution to Month-on-Month %

Change in NCPI

	1.2				1.03
	1.0
cent	0.8
0.6
Per	0.47
0.4
	0.2
	0.0
		Nov-20		Dec-20
				Food		Non-food

Headline inflation as measured by the year-on- year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100)1 decreased to 4.6 per cent in December 2020 from 5.2 per cent in November 2020. This was due to the statistical effect of the high base prevailed in December 2019. Meanwhile, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) decreased to 7.5 per cent in December 2020 from

9.4 per cent in November 2020, whereas Non- food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 2.2 per cent in December 2020 from 1.7 per cent in November 2020.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis decreased marginally to 6.2 per cent in December 2020 from 6.3 per cent in November 2020.

Monthly change of NCPI recorded at 1.03 per cent in December 2020 mainly due to increases observed in prices of items in Food category. Moreover, monthly changes of Food and Non- food categories recorded at 1.02 per cent and

0.01 per cent, respectively in December 2020. Accordingly, within the Food category, increases were observed mainly in the prices of coconut, vegetables, potato, rice and red onion during December 2020.

Further, year-on-year core inflation increased to 4.7 per cent in December 2020 from 4.5 per cent in November 2020, while annual average core inflation decreased marginally to 4.1 per cent in December 2020 from 4.2 per cent in November 2020.

1The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100) is compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics.

Data Annexure:

Table 1: Movements of the NCPI

Base: 2013 = 100

		Index Number	Monthly Percentage	Year-on-Year	Annual Average
		Change	Percentage Change	Percentage Change
Year	Month
NCPI	NCPI	NCPI	NCPI	NCPI	NCPI	NCPI	NCPI
		(Core)	(Core)	(Core)	(Core)
2018	January	125.8	123.9	-0.6	0.1	5.4	2.1	7.6	4.5
	February	123.7	124.4	-1.7	0.4	3.2	2.0	7.2	4.1
	March	122.8	124.6	-0.7	0.2	2.8	1.9	6.7	3.6
	April	122.9	124.8	0.1	0.2	1.6	1.9	6.1	3.3
	May	124.3	125.1	1.1	0.2	2.1	1.7	5.7	3.1
	June	126.5	125.3	1.8	0.2	2.5	1.8	5.3	2.9
	July	126.6	125.7	0.1	0.3	3.4	2.3	5.1	2.7
	August	125.4	126.3	-0.9	0.5	2.5	2.7	4.7	2.5
	September	124.4	126.9	-0.8	0.5	0.9	3.1	4.0	2.4
	October	124.9	127.3	0.4	0.3	0.1	3.4	3.3	2.4
	November	127.7	127.6	2.2	0.2	1.0	3.1	2.7	2.4
	December	127.1	127.6	-0.5	0.0	0.4	3.1	2.1	2.4
2019	January	127.3	130.2	0.2	2.0	1.2	5.1	1.8	2.7
	February	126.7	131.3	-0.5	0.8	2.4	5.5	1.7	3.0
	March	126.4	131.8	-0.2	0.4	2.9	5.8	1.7	3.3
	April	127.3	132.6	0.7	0.6	3.6	6.3	1.9	3.7
	May	128.7	133.0	1.1	0.3	3.5	6.3	2.0	4.0
	June	129.2	133.0	0.4	0.0	2.1	6.1	2.0	4.4
	July	129.4	133.4	0.2	0.3	2.2	6.1	1.9	4.7
	August	129.7	133.7	0.2	0.2	3.4	5.9	2.0	5.0
	September	130.6	134.0	0.7	0.2	5.0	5.6	2.3	5.2
	October	131.9	134.4	1.0	0.3	5.6	5.6	2.8	5.4
	November	132.9	134.6	0.8	0.1	4.1	5.5	3.0	5.6
	December	135.0	134.2	1.6	-0.3	6.2	5.2	3.5	5.7
2020	January	137.0	135.3	1.5	0.8	7.6	3.9	4.1	5.6
	February	137.0	135.8	0.0	0.4	8.1	3.4	4.5	5.5
	March	135.2	136.0	-1.3	0.1	7.0	3.2	4.9	5.2
	April	134.8	136.9	-0.3	0.7	5.9	3.2	5.1	5.0
	May	135.4	137.9	0.4	0.7	5.2	3.7	5.2	4.8
	June	137.3	138.9	1.4	0.7	6.3	4.4	5.6	4.6
	July	137.3	139.4	0.0	0.4	6.1	4.5	5.9	4.5
	August	137.8	139.9	0.4	0.4	6.2	4.6	6.1	4.4
	September	138.9	140.4	0.8	0.4	6.4	4.8	6.2	4.3
	October	139.1	140.5	0.1	0.1	5.5	4.5	6.2	4.2
	November	139.8	140.6	0.5	0.1	5.2	4.5	6.3	4.2
	December	141.2	140.5	1.0	-0.1	4.6	4.7	6.2	4.1

Source: Department of Census and Statistics