Sri Lanka’s national rate of inflation rose to 8.1% in August 2026 from 7.2% in July, the Department of Census and Statistics said on Monday, extending a run of accelerating consumer prices into a fourth consecutive month.
The Department’s own statistical dashboard states that “NCPI for the month of August 2026 was 223.9 and the year on year inflation has reported as 8.1%”. The index gained 0.26% over the month, from 223.4 points in July.
The National Consumer Price Index measures retail prices across all provinces, rather than the capital alone.
Food led the increase
Food inflation climbed to 6.6% in August from 4.9% in July, a rise of 1.7 percentage points in a single month and the second sharp monthly jump in a row — food had already accelerated 1.6 points between June and July.
Hiru News, reporting the release, said the increase came from fresh fish, dried fish, milk powder and fresh fruits. Those gains were partly offset by cheaper rice, vegetables and coconuts.
Non-food categories still account for most of the headline figure, contributing 5.14 percentage points of the 8.1% total. The outlet attributed the non-food pressure to higher petrol prices, bus fares, housing bills and routine domestic services.
That split implies food contributed the remaining 2.96 points — a calculation consistent with food’s share of roughly 44% of the NCPI basket. The figure is derived from the published components rather than stated by the Department.
The national index has now passed the Colombo index
August marks a turning point that neither the Department nor the reporting on it noted. Through this year’s inflation run, the Colombo Consumer Price Index had consistently read higher than the national gauge:
| Month | NCPI | CCPI |
|---|---|---|
| June | 6.5% | 6.8% |
| July | 7.2% | 7.3% |
| August | 8.1% | 8.0% |
The national measure has now overtaken the urban one for the first time in the sequence. The Department’s dashboard puts the August CCPI at 208.8 points, against the NCPI’s 223.9.
The crossover reflects where the two baskets diverged. In August the CCPI recorded food inflation of 8.5% and non-food of 7.7% — food running ahead of non-food in Colombo. The July NCPI had food at 4.9% against non-food at 9.2%, the reverse ordering. August’s national food figure of 6.6% closes much of that gap, lifting the national headline past Colombo’s.
The two indices are published on different schedules — the CCPI at the end of the reference month, the NCPI roughly three weeks later — so the national reading is the later and broader confirmation of a price rise already visible in the capital.
Above the Central Bank’s ceiling
The reading keeps inflation well above the Central Bank’s 5% target and above the 7% upper limit of its target band, which has now been breached on both gauges. The Central Bank last held its key policy rate at 8.75%, and has attributed the year’s acceleration primarily to the pass-through of higher global energy prices.
Neither the Department’s release nor Hiru’s report gave the August non-food inflation rate as a percentage, only its contribution to the total.
