Consumer Price Index (CPI) in October reached 147.70 per cent, up 8.85 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to the report on the CPI and inflation rate issued by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) from the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

The commodity prices included CPI and inflation report showed significant increase.According to the calculations using 2012 as the base year, the CPI for the food group hit 160.60 per cent with the non-food group growing by 129.55 per cent in late October.

According to the same calculation, the CPI hit 135.70 per cent in October, 2017, 139.51 per cent in late February, 139.11 per cent in late March, 139.82 per cent in late April and 141.13 per cent in late June. Much of the growth was linked to heavy rains and natural disasters.

In late October, Kachin State saw the biggest change in the CPI with 2.73 per cent with Ayeyawady Region seeing the least change of 0.22 per cent, according to the CSO report.

In November, 2012, the CSO conducted a household income and consumption survey on 32,669 households in 82 townships across the country. The survey covered 438 goods and services.

For the calculation of CPI, the CSO took samples from 274 items—108 for the food group and 166 for the non-food group.

In October, the average inflation rate was 6.34 per cent and the year-on-year inflation, 8.85 per cent.