brand logo

SL one notch away from world’s highest inflation: Johns Hopkins University

16 May 2022

 
  • Johns Hopkins University’s Steve Hanke puts SL only below Zimbabwe
  • Shows country’s inflation as whopping 132% per annum 
  • Inflation even worse than last month
  By Madhusha Thavapalakumar Sri Lanka is now a mere notch away from recording the world’s highest inflation, following Johns Hopkins University’s release of their latest analysis, marking the country’s annual inflation figure at 132% as of March 2022.  The inflation dashboard is computed by Steve Hanke, a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.  The recently released data shows that Sri Lanka has the world’s second-highest inflation. The annual inflation of the country reached a three-digit percentage despite the last recorded official inflation figures remaining at 21.5%.  Zimbabwe is the global winner with its inflation reaching 256%, while the third and fourth places are occupied respectively by Lebanon and Turkey, with annual inflation figures at 130% and 97%.  Last month, data issued by Johns Hopkins placed Sri Lanka in the third position, surpassing Turkey, Venezuela, and Sudan.  Meanwhile, headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (YoY) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI, 2013=100) increased to 29.8% in April 2022 from 18.7% in March 2022, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).  The disparity between the official inflation figures and Johns Hopkins figures, according to University of Colombo Faculty of Arts Department of Economics Senior Professor Dr. Shanuka Senarath, is due to the outdated calculation methods used by the CCPI. 


More News..