Sri Lanka consumer price inflation eases to 53.2% in Jan

(Reuters) -Sri Lanka’s National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) eased year-on-year to 53.2% in January, after a 59.2% rise in December, the statistics department said on Tuesday.

Food prices were up 53.6% in January from a year ago, while non-food inflation was 52.9% higher, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement.

Sri Lanka hiked power prices by a hefty 66% last week, part of efforts to nail down a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the island struggles to find a way out of its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.

The power tariff increase is the second in six months and is expected to slow the pace of inflation reduction, which has been easing since last September.

“This is broadly in line with expectations as there is a high base effect,” said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at equity research firm CAL.

“Power has become a small component of the overall inflation basket so there will be indirect impact but a significant increase is unlikely as many businesses will be unable to pass on the cost increase to consumers.”

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is expected to keep interest rates steady next week after it raised them to the highest point in nearly two decades last year to fight soaring inflation. CBSL predicts that inflation will reach single digits at the end of this year.

The NCPI captures broader retail price inflation across the island nation and is released with a lag of 21 days every month.

The Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), released at the end of each month, eased to 54.2% in January, data showed.

(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Bernadette Baum)