Nationwide inflation slows to 4.6% in December

By Mario Andree

Nationwide inflation, during December last year, slowed down to 4.6 per cent year-on-year compared to 5.2 per cent recorded a month earlier, as food inflation decelerated though non-food inflation increased.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, year-on-year food inflation slowed down to 7.5 per cent in December from 9.4 per cent a month earlier, while non-food inflation accelerated to 2.2 per cent from 1.7 per cent.

The 12-month moving average inflation slowed to 6.2 per cent in December from 6.3 per cent in November with food inflation slowing down to 12.2 per cent from 12.3 per cent and non-food inflation slowing down to 1.5 per cent from 1.7 per cent.

The National Consumer Price Index expanded to 141.2 index points in December from 139.8 index points in November, which represents an increase in expenditure value of Rs 462.11 in the ‘Market Basket’.

On a year-on-year basis, the contribution of food commodities to inflation was 3.38 per cent in December 2020 compared to that of December 2019, while the contribution from non-food items was 1.21 per cent.