Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2023-02-06

Rebasing the National Consumer Price Index of Sri Lanka

- The National Consumer Price Index is a major determinant of the GDP deflator and a more comprehensive indicator in the overall inflation in the country and the index reference year 2013 was the first series of the National Consumer Price Index. In order to reflect the current consumption expenditure by Sri Lankan households, the weights and representative basket of goods and services have to be updated. Accordingly, the Hon. President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies presented the following measures taken by the Department of Census and Statistics to the attention of the Cabinet and the Cabinet granted its concurrence for the same.

* Updating the National Consumer Price Index which was Base 2013=100 as Base 2021=100.

* Compilation and publishing of the new National Consumer Price Index and the inflation rate at national level monthly with the time lag of 21 days from the month of January 2023.

* weighting for the updated National Consumer Price Index based on the consumer expenditure of the year 2019.

* Preparation and publication of the inflation rate for the urban areas of the Colombo District by updating the Colombo Consumer Price Index for the new base 2021=100, covering the urban areas of the Colombo District from January 2023.