Wednesday 1 February 2017

Sri Lanka revises CPI base year, composition

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has revised the base year and the composition of market basket of the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) with effect from January to reflect changes in the market, the statistics office said on Tuesday.

The Department of Census and Statistics revised the base year to 2013 from the previous 2006/7 introduced in 2008, while increasing the non-food composition to 72 percent of the market basket from the earlier 59 percent, official data showed.

"Obsolete expenditure pattern and inappropriate price changes could lead to misleading signals in policy simulation and decision making," the statistics office said in a statement.

Under the new basket, the government has included alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics along with restaurants and hotels, which were not included in the previous basket.

The new basket has also more than doubled the total consumption expenditure, data showed.

Under the new index, the annual inflation rose 5.5 percent in January, accelerating from the last month's 4.5 percent, while the 12-month moving average rose 4.3 percent this month from 4.0 month recorded in December.

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