Bath Curry Index records highest ever increase of 71% in May

The month of May has recorded the highest goods price increase in the last 18 years with the Bath Curry Indicator (BCI), which tracks changes in the retail price of food, recording its highest ever increase of 71 percent from May 2021 to May 2022.

When compared with the month of April, the index is up by over 13 percent.
Sri Lanka’s official food inflation is standing at a staggering 57.4 percent. The previous highest year-on-year food inflation was recorded in the year 2004.  According to the Colombo-based think tank, this is the largest ever increase in food prices since the index started measuring a basket of commonly consumed food items from 2019. 

With food prices increasing at this rate, a family that had to spend Rs.1,140 per week for food in May 2019 now has to spend Rs.1940 to consume the same basket of food items. Similarly, the prices in supermarkets for the same basket of goods have nearly doubled since May 2020.

“Inflation is an insidious and cruel tax. And, inflation of food is very harmful, as it strikes the most vulnerable-children and old people. One other problem not often highlighted in most discussions on the subject is that it distorts relative prices, creating a misallocation of resources,” said Advocata Institutes Academic Programme Chair Dr. Sarath Rajapatirana.

The BCI tracks the weekly retail prices in the Colombo market of the most commonly consumed food ingredients that might be used in a typical ‘bath’ curry meal. The prices are collected from the Weekly Indicators that the Central Bank publishes. The index uses the Pettah retail prices for its calculation.