Thee government will introduce a new inflation index from June to reflect the latest consumption and economic pattern, the Department of Census and Statistics said.

The new Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) will use surveys done in 2006 and 2007 and replace the existing one, which has a base year of 2002 and was introduced in early 2008.

“We are going to stop the 2002 base year index from the next month and introduce the new index. We are waiting for cabinet approval,” D.C.A. Gunawardena, the Director at the Department’s Prices and Wages division told Reuters in an interview.

“This is a normal international practice to rebase the existing index to reflect the current economy and structure. There is no drastic change, but some slight changes are there on the weights.”

The new index comes at a time when the current index shows annual inflation sped to a 27-month high of 9.8 percent in April prompting some criticism that the government is manipulating the index for its own benefits.

The new index will also not include alcoholic beverages and tobacco products like the current one. It will also have a higher weight for rice, the staple food and lower one for wheat. “Those are government policies,” Gunawardena said.