Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2021=100) decelerated to 0.9% in May 2024 from 1.5% in April 2024. This deceleration in the headline inflation is broadly in line with the projections of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
Prices of the items in the Food category, on year-onyear basis, remained unchanged in May 2024 (i.e., 0.0% Food inflation (Y-o-Y) in May 2024 compared to 2.9% in April 2024). Nevertheless, Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) accelerated to 1.3% in May 2024 from 0.9% in April 2024. On a month-on-month basis, inflation continued to decline. Accordingly, monthly change of CCPI recorded -0.57% in May 2024 due to the price decreases of 0.37% observed in the items of Food category and the price decreases of 0.20% observed in the items of Non-Food category. Meanwhile, core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation trends in the economy, accelerated marginally to 3.5% in May 2024 from 3.4% in April 2024.