COLOMBO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government has decided to revise the base year of the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) and the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), a spokesman said on Tuesday.
Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told a press conference that the indices will be re-based with newer expenditure weights to reflect the current expenditure of Sri Lankan households.
The new base year for the Colombo Consumer Price Index is 2019, and the new base year for the National Consumer Price Index is 2021. Earlier, 2013 was the base year for both indices.
Gunawardena said this was proposed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the minister of finance.
The monthly NCPI measures the changes in prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
The CCPI indicates average changes in the prices of goods and services purchased by households in urban areas of the Colombo district.
Both are considered indices of inflation.
Sri Lanka has been facing high levels of inflation since 2022, and the inflation has slowed down in the last few months.
Sri Lanka's inflation decreased to 54.2 percent in January from 57.2 percent in December 2022. ■