Alcohol price hike pushes inflation up

According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, the annual inflation rate registered a modest increase in March to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent in the previous month largely due to a rise in alcoholic beverage prices.

On March 4, KBL increased prices of alcoholic beverages by an average five percent adding to the pressure on prices from the alcohol levy which rose to a cumulative 45 percent in October last year.From the 12 categories used in tracking changes in the CPI basket, only the alcoholic beverages and tobacco group index recorded an increase of more than one percent in March.