Inflation, as measured by the change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) (2013=100), which is compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), decreased to 8.4 per cent in November 2017 from 8.8 per cent in October 2017, on year-on-year basis.

The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased from 7.1 per cent in October 2017 to 7.5 per cent in November 2017.

When the monthly change is considered, the NCPI increased from 124.8 index points in October 2017 to 126.4 index points in November 2017. This monthly increase was mainly due to the increase in prices of the items in the Food category which was led by adverse supply side developments. Price increase of coconuts, green chillies and vegetables were prominent. Nevertheless, prices of fresh fish and some fruits declined. Meanwhile, prominent price increases were observable in payments to medical laboratories and Payments to private hospitals room charges.

In terms of the provisions of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 6 of 2006 (FTRA), the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Sri Lanka entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sri Lanka Police on December 13, 2017 at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to share information/intelligence in order to facilitate investigations and prosecutions on money laundering, terrorist financing and other related offences.

Inspector General of Police, Mr. Pujith Jayasundara and Dr. H. Amarathunga, Director, FIU signed the MOU on behalf of the respective institutions in the presence of Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who is also the Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Coordinating Committee.