The inflation, as measured by the change in the Colombo Consumers' Price Index (CCPI), rose to 1.7% in October.

Since the CCPI, prepared by the Department of Census and Statistics for the calculation of changes in the price level and inflation, only depicts the price changes in Colombo municipal area, the Department last month decided to introduce the National Consumer Price Index.

NCPI will have weights based on consumer spending in 2012/13, and will reflect new methods consistent with international best practices.

The NCPI declared on 21st of each month starting from 21 November 2015 would use 2013 as its base year.

Based on the NCPI, the inflation in September was steady from a month earlier at 1.9%.

On a monthly basis, the NCPI in October increased 0.7% to 109.2 from 108.4 in September.

Year-on-Year inflation of Food Group has increased from 1.1% in September 2015 to 2.3% in October 2015, while Nonfood Group also increased by 3.2% to 4.4% during this period.