Staff Reporter :
Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has stated that the interim government has taken effective measures to stabilise inflation. He remarked that the government inherited a high inflationary trend from the previous Hasina administration.
“You can see that the previous situation of high inflation no longer exists, as stability has been restored, albeit not entirely. The economy was sluggish earlier, but it is now progressing.
When an economy becomes stagnant, it takes time to revive and accelerate,” the Adviser explained during an interview with the national news agency at his office in the Bangladesh Secretariat. The interview marked the completion of 100 days of the interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus as Chief Adviser.
According to official statistics, the general point-to-point inflation rate rose slightly to 10.87 per cent in October 2024, up from 9.92 per cent in September 2024. In August 2024, the inflation rate stood at 10.49 per cent. Food inflation increased to 12.66 per cent in October 2024, compared to 10.40 per cent in September.
However, non-food inflation declined marginally to 9.34 per cent in October 2024, down from 9.50 per cent in September.
Dr Salehuddin highlighted that controlling inflation remains a challenge as it has hovered around double digits for the past two years. He attributed the slight increase to excessive money printing and substantial investments in mega projects under the previous government.
He noted, “The issue with mega projects is that they do not yield immediate returns. We need to focus on creating more employment opportunities to increase people’s purchasing power. There was also a mismatch between supply and demand earlier.”
The Adviser explained that the current rise in inflation is also due to factors such as flash floods across the country, which affected food grain, poultry, and cattle farms.
Using an example, he pointed out that the country requires around 45 million eggs daily, which is difficult to import in such quantities.
Floods in regions like Sherpur and Mymensingh, along with unseasonal rainfall, also disrupted vegetable production.
To address these issues, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has reduced tariffs on imports of onions, potatoes, and rice to help stabilise market prices, Dr Salehuddin added.