Headline inflation decreased to 0.4% in December 2018

Colombo (News1st): In a press release, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka stated that headline inflation as measured by the year-on-year change in the National Consumer Price Index, decreased to 0.4% in December 2018, from 1% in November 2018. The decrease observed in year-on-year inflation in December 2018, is driven by the decrease of prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories. The core inflation, which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, remained at 3.1% in December 2018 on a year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, annual average core inflation also remained unchanged at 2.4% in December 2018. Meanwhile, the Central Bank in its weekly update on economic indicators also revealed that the government's outstanding stock of Treasury bills and bonds held by foreigners, decreased by 5.68%, to Rs. 145,450.32 million during the week ending 16th January 2019 from Rs.154,202.18 million the previous week. Investor confidence in Sri Lanka Market has been dented due to the uncontrollable corruption much like the Central Bank Bond Scam that occurred in the past.