COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s consumer price inflation rate eased to 2.1% year-on-year in August from 4.6% in July, helped by falling food prices, the statistics department said on Thursday.

The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) captures broader retail price inflation and is released with a lag of 21 days every month.

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Food prices fell 5.4% in August after declining 2.5% in July from a year earlier, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement.

Prices for non-food items, however, climbed 9% in August after rising 10.9% year-on-year in July.