Record Numbers

April 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's inflation hit an all-time high of 25.0 percent in the 12-months to April 2008 on a new index to measure consumer prices in Colombo, while an older index showed an increase of 29.9 percent, the government's statistics office said. . The new Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI-N) grew 1.8 percent in the 30 days of April.

In March 12-month inflation showed by the CCPI-N index was 23.8 percent.

The seasonally adjusted inflation climbed to 18.7 percent in April from 17.7 percent in March.

The older Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) which is used to index worker's wages has a higher weight in food. The index grew by 1.3 percent in the 30 days of April.

The statistics office said out of the total increase in April, 1.32 percent showed up in food, with fresh fish and vegetables showing the highest increase.

Sri Lanka's Central Bank has been keeping monetary policy tight in 2008, though the bank is operating a tight peg with the US dollar.

Countries that run a peg with the US dollar and also run a fractional reserve banking system with a discount window both in Asia and the Middle East have had almost double digit inflation in 2008, though much lower than Sri Lanka.

In April 2007, inflation measured