January CPI inflation at 5.07%; IIP sees 7.1% surge

Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for the month of January stood at 5.07 percent, down from 5.21 percent in December 2017.

As per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, food inflation saw a marginal decline to 4.70 percent in January from 4.96 percent in December last year.

The index of 'cereals and products' saw a minor rise to 135.9, 'Vegetables' fell from 161.7 in December to 151.6 in January, and that of 'Food and Beverages' segment declined from 140.5 to 139.2.

The index of 'Pan, tobacco and intoxicants' deflected from 154.2 to 154.7, 'Education' rose from 138.5 to 139.0, and that of 'Fuel and Light' remained unchanged at 136.6.

Meanwhile, the general index for the month of December 2017 stood at 130.3, which is 7.1 percent higher as compared to the level in the month of December 2016.

Also, the cumulative growth for the period April-December 2017 over the corresponding period of the previous year was 3.7 percent.

The Indices of Industrial Production (IIP) for the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors for the month of December 2017 stood at 115.5, 131.6 and 143.9 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of 1.2, 8.4 and 4.4 percent as compared to December 2016. The cumulative growth in these three sectors during April-December 2017 over the corresponding period of 2016 was 2.8, 3.8 and 5.1 percent respectively.

For the industries, 16 out of the 23 groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth in December 2017 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

However, as per the data, the industry group 'Manufacture of other transport equipment' showed the highest positive growth of 38.3 percent, followed by 33.6 percent in 'Manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products' and 29.8 percent in 'Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products'.

On the other hand, the industry group 'Manufacture of tobacco products' showed the highest percentage of decline of 28.2 percent, followed by 22.3 percent in 'other manufacturing' and 14.9 percent in 'Manufacture of electrical equipment'.