National consumer prices decline 0.8% in April on cut to petrol prices

The consumer prices measured nationally continued to fall through April 2025, albeit at a much slower pace than in the prior months, as the food prices climbed during April, although the cut to the petrol prices took away the much of those price pressures. Inflation, measured by the National Consumer Price Index, fell 0.8 percent in the year through April 2025, decelerating from the 1.9 percent decline seen through March 2025. The prices measured monthly rose by 0.2 percent in April, after falling 0.1 percent in March, again as a result of the higher food prices. The Central Bank last week said the current stretch of deflation would come to an end in a month or two the most, before the prices start rising and reach its desired level of 5.0 percent by the year end. The consumer prices have been on a descent on a point-to-point basis from last September, predominantly due to the repeated cuts to the energy and utility prices. However, the electricity prices are set to rise again by roughly 19.0 percent from June onwards, which could help push the price index to positive territory. The food prices in April rose by 2.9 percent from a year ago, accelerating from 0.8 percent March level. The prices measured on a monthly basis too rose by 0.7 percent, flipping from negative 0. 3 percent. The prices of vegetables, fresh fish, milk powder, coconut oil, salt, chicken, eggs and a few others rose in April from a month ago, outpacing the totality of the impact of the decline in the prices of green chilies, big onions, fresh fruits, red onions and the likes. Non-food inflation meanwhile fell by 3.7 percent in the year through April 2025, slightly easing from a 4.1 percent decline through March. The prices measured on a monthly basis fell 0.1 percent, the same rate in March, as the cut to the prices of petrol offset the increase in prices in other categories such as housing and utilities and health. Meanwhile, the so-called core prices, barring the impact of often-volatile items such as food, energy and transport, fell 0.1 percent in the year through April 2025, down from a 0.6 percent decline seen through March 2025.