BCI shows food prices surging close to 50%

Advocata’s  Bath Curry Indicator (BCI) , which tracks the monthly changes in the retail price of food, recorded an increase of 14 percent from March 2022 to April 2022.  This is a year-on-year increase of 49 percent for this basket of food. 

This is driven primarily by prices of dhal and samba rice being the highest recorded by the BCI. A kilo of dhal in April 2021 was Rs.178, a year later it costs Rs.466. 

A kilo of samba in April 2021 was close to Rs.130, a year later this costs Rs 210. With food prices increasing at this rate, a family of four to spend on the BCI basket of food would have to pay approximately Rs.560 more for a week.  The Colombo Consumer Price Index recorded a similar rate of 47 percent year-on-year increase in food inflation. Comparing supermarket food prices from March 2021 to 2022 there has been an increase of close to 40 percent.  This drastic increase in food prices in 2022 is a result of macroeconomic instability within the country. Although global prices have increased due to the pandemic and issues with supply chains, global prices have not  increased as fast as the prices in Sri Lanka. 

In addition to the global pandemic related issues, Sri Lanka is currently facing shortages of foreign currency, which impact local supply chains.This impact has also been exacerbated by consistent import restrictions, both causing shortages. These shortages compounded by the fact that the value of the currency has been falling steeply have all contributed to food prices rising faster and faster in 2022. 

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 Buth Curry meal. The prices are collected from the ‘Weekly Indicators’ which the Central Bank publishes.