Sri Lanka, Feb. 25 -- Sri Lanka's Central Bank has set an inflation target of 5%, but economists and policy experts are increasingly concerned that this benchmark may be too high for the country's current economic realities.

January's national inflation data, released on Monday (23), showed an overall 2.4% inflation rate-a 0.5% decline from December.

Non-food inflation also eased to 3.4% from 4.4% in the previous month. Despite these declines, the Central Bank expects inflation to reach the 5% target by the start of the third quarter, potentially putting additional pressure on consumers.

Dhananath Fernando, CEO of the think tank Advocata, explained why the current target may be problematic.

"We need to understand that inflation is not...