The Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report August 2026

Abstract

Annual consumer price inflation was 6.6 per cent in August 2026, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This implies that the general price level was 6.6 per cent higher in August 2026 than it was in August 2025. The price increase was primarily driven by a rise in prices of items in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (9.0%); Transport (15.7%), and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (3.6%) over the one-year period. These three divisions together account for over 57 per cent of the total weight across the 13 major expenditure categories. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is defined as a measure of the weighted aggregate change over time in retail prices paid by consumers for a given basket of goods and services. The CPI measures the cost of purchasing this fixed basket of goods and services, comparingcurrent prices to those of a base period, which for the current CPI is February 2019. Inflation rate is defined as a percentage change of the CPI between two periods. There are different inflation rates that can be computed, such as annual (year-on-year), quarterly (quarter-to-quarter) and monthly (month-on-month) inflation rates. Data used to derive the inflation rates is collected through a monthly survey of retail prices from a statistically representative sample of outlets in urban areas across 50 data collection zones nationwide. The survey is conducted during the second and third weeks of the month.