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Sri Lanka Inflation Calculator (CCPI) — Rupee Purchasing Power

Convert any past LKR amount into today's money — or project today's money forward — using the official Colombo Consumer Price Index published monthly by Sri Lanka's Department of Census and Statistics. Cumulative inflation, annualised rate and a real-return FD check, no signup, sources cited.

By Induwara AshinsanaUpdated May 16, 2026
Rupee purchasing powerCCPI · base 2013 = 100
DCS verified · 2026-04
Rs

Enter the rupee amount you want to compare across time. No commas needed.

2026-04(latest published)
Quick presets
Equivalent in 2026-04
Rs 188,170
Cumulative inflation
+88.17%
60 months elapsed
Annualised inflation
+13.48%/yr
Geometric mean across the period
CCPI ratio
1.882
134.4 → 252.9

Purchasing power over time

2021-04 → 2026-04

Each point is the nominal LKR amount that matched today's buying power in that month. Hover values: Rs 100,000 in 2021-04 → Rs 188,170 in 2026-04.

Real return on an FD / salary

%

Enter a nominal rate to see whether it beat the 13.48%/yr inflation measured above.

Series:
Latest headline YoY: +3.44%

How it works

Sri Lanka's headline inflation measure is the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), published monthly by the Department of Census and Statistics on a base of December 2013 = 100. The index tracks the price of a fixed basket of goods and services for Colombo-district households; the monthly press release is the official figure quoted in parliament, CBSL Monetary Policy Reviews and the national accounts.

The calculator above ships a verified monthly CCPI series from 2015-01 through 2026-04 and applies four standard CPI formulas to it:

  1. Equivalent value across time. The standard rebasing identity: equivalent = amount × CCPI_to / CCPI_from. This is the same formula CBSL uses in the Statistical Appendix to its Annual Report when restating historical figures in constant rupees.
  2. Cumulative inflation between the two months: ((CCPI_to − CCPI_from) / CCPI_from) × 100. Reported as a percentage change.
  3. Annualised inflation (geometric mean across the months elapsed): ((CCPI_to / CCPI_from) ^ (12 / months) − 1) × 100. This is the single yearly rate that, if compounded over the period, reproduces the cumulative change.
  4. Real interest / real salary growth using the exact Fisher form, not the linear approximation: real = ((1 + nominal/100) / (1 + inflation/100) − 1) × 100. Common rule-of-thumb subtraction (nominal − inflation) under-reports the gap at higher rates.

For the future-projection mode the tool applies straightforward compound growth at the user-supplied annual rate — explicitly labelled as a projection rather than an official CBSL forecast. Every result is cross-checked at module load against the chained month-on-month product of the same CCPI series, so a corrupted data file is detected before the page renders.

The series is reviewed every month against the latest DCS press release; the last-verified date is exported as LAST_VERIFIED in the data module (2026-05-16) and shown in the calculator card's footer strip.

Worked examples

Example

A 2018 teacher's salary in 2026 money

  1. Amount: Rs 60,000/month (2018-01, CCPI = 114.6)
  2. Compare to 2026-01 (CCPI = 251.0)
  3. Ratio: 251.0 / 114.6 = 2.190
  4. Equivalent: 60,000 × 2.190 = Rs 131,414/month
  5. Cumulative inflation: +119.02%
  6. Annualised: 10.30%/yr over 96 months

Example

Real return on a 9% FD when inflation is 6.5%

  1. Nominal rate: 9.00% per year
  2. Inflation rate: 6.50% per year
  3. Linear shortcut (9 − 6.5) = 2.50% — slightly over-states
  4. Exact Fisher: (1.09 / 1.065 − 1) × 100 = 2.347%
  5. Real return is positive: Rs 100,000 grows to Rs 102,347 in real terms after one year

Example

What 1 million LKR today might need to be in 10 years (6% assumed)

  1. Amount: Rs 1,000,000 today
  2. Assumed inflation: 6%/yr
  3. Years: 10
  4. Multiplier: 1.06^10 = 1.7908
  5. Nominal LKR needed: Rs 1,790,847 to preserve today's buying power
  6. Real-value erosion: −44.16% (i.e. today's million buys about 56% of what it does now)

Example

Edge case — comparing the September 2022 crisis peak to today

  1. Amount: Rs 50,000 (2022-09, CCPI = 225.5)
  2. Compare to 2026-04 (CCPI = 252.9)
  3. Ratio: 252.9 / 225.5 = 1.1215
  4. Equivalent: 50,000 × 1.1215 = Rs 56,075
  5. Cumulative inflation: +12.15% over 43 months
  6. Annualised: 3.25%/yr — well below the long-run average because most of the 2022 jump came earlier

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references

The CCPI series in this calculator was last cross-checked against the DCS sources above on 2026-05-16, with coverage from 2015-01 to 2026-04. The page refreshes on the orchestrator's monthly cadence after each new DCS bulletin.

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Comments & feedback

Spotted a bug or want an improvement? Tell us — our team reviews every comment, and good ideas get built. Comments are public and anonymous.

Spot a CCPI value that doesn't match the latest DCS bulletin? Want NCPI added?

Email me at [email protected] — most fixes ship within 24 hours.