Key highlights
- Nov 2025 CPI highlights show food inflation can stay negative even as other costs rise. Stats & Programme Ministry
- Urban headline inflation increased in Nov—often reflecting services, rent-linked costs, and city-level price pressures. Stats & Programme Ministry
- “Lived inflation” is personal; CPI is average—both can be true at once. Stats & Programme Ministry
The most common public complaint about inflation is also the most understandable: “If inflation is low, why does life feel expensive?” CPI data does not contradict this feeling—it explains why it happens. November 2025 is a good illustration. Headline inflation moved to 0.10% (provisional), but the release also points to patterns where food inflation dynamics differ from overall costs. Stats & Programme Ministry
Kitchen economics can improve when food components soften, but households don’t live on groceries alone. City families pay for rent, transport, schooling, services, connectivity, and a long tail of small expenses that rarely feel “indexed” but absolutely compound. The CPI headline is the weighted average of many sub-stories; your household is one particular slice of that average.
The urban move matters here. November recorded urban headline inflation at 1.40% (provisional), up from 0.88% in October. Stats & Programme Ministry This is exactly the kind of number that can coexist with “some food items feel cheaper” while still making monthly budgets tighter—because services and housing-linked costs don’t always cool when food cools.
This divergence also shapes politics and policy. Food inflation dominates public mood more than any technical “core” reading, which is why CFPI is surfaced so prominently in official CPI communication. Stats & Programme Ministry If kitchen bills spike, the public believes inflation is high—regardless of what the headline says.
A responsible January 2026 explainer should avoid mock reassurance. It should tell readers the truth: CPI is the national average, and your stress comes from the components that hit you most. When you explain inflation this way, you reduce cynicism and increase comprehension—two things a serious newsroom should value.
