Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100), increased to 14.0 percent in December 2021 from 11.1 percent in November 2021.
On an annual average basis, the NCPI increased to 7.0 percent in December 2021 from 6.2 percent in November 2021. Inflation was driven by monthly increases of prices of items in Food and Non-food categories.
Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 21.5 percent in December 2021 from 16.9 percent in November 2021, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) also increased to 7.6 percent in December 2021 from 6.2 percent in November 2021.
The monthly change of the NCPI was recorded at 3.68 percent in December 2021 due to increases observed in prices of items in both Food and Nonfood categories which were 3.00 percent and 0.68 percent.
Within the Food category, prominent increases were observed in prices of vegetables, rice, and green chillies. Further, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the Restaurants and Hotels, and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (arrack, betel leaves) sub-categories during the month.
Core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy increased to 10.8 percent in December 2021 from 8.8 percent in November 2021, while annual average core inflation increased to 5.5 percent in December 2021 from 5.0 percent in November 2021.