Inflation hits record high in decade reaching 9.94pc: BBS
Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has witnessed a significant overall inflation in May that hit a new high in a decade to 9.94 per cent in the current fiscal year due to the adverse impact of rising fuel prices.
Earlier in May 2011, Bangladesh had experienced 10.2 percent inflation.
The monthly inflation in May of the current fiscal years also surpassed the previous high of 9.5 per cent, recorded in August 2022.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Monday released the latest data showing the overall inflation rate soared to 9.94 percent in May, compared to 9.24 per cent in April.
According to the BBS, food inflation rose to 9.24 per cent in May, up from 8.84 per cent in April. Simultaneously, non-food inflation escalated to 9.96 per cent in May, marking a notable climb from 9.72 per cent in the previous month.
The BBS data indicated that both food and non-food inflation contributed to the overall increase.
The sharp rise in inflationary pressures pose a significant challenge for the Bangladeshi economy, as it puts additional strain on consumers’ purchasing power.
Earlier on June 2, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at the post-budget press conference for the fiscal year 2023-24 said that the government itself was worried about inflation.
In response to a question about inflation, he said, “We ourselves are worried about inflation as the whole world is now experiencing the inflation. We can’t stop eating and people cannot be kept without food. So, we are moving in a flexible way and trying to control it.”
However, the overall inflation rose to 8.78 percent in February and the raterose to 9.33 percent in March again.
Though inflation eased slightly in April but was not promising as overall inflation rate was 9.24 percent at that time.
According to the BBS, the price of rice, pulses, oil, salt, fish, meat, vegetables, spices and tobacco products have increased and the rate of food inflation has also increased.
Apart from this, the cost of house rent, furniture, household items, medical care, transportation and educational materials has also increased.
So, the inflation rate has increased to 9.96 percent in May, compared to 9.72 percent in the previous month.
The prices of daily commodities are rising abnormally in the country, which added an extra-burden to low-income people.
The additional pressure has increased because of Russia-Ukraine crisis, abnormal dollar prices, and rising domestic fuel prices.
Besides, the opportunity to increase the price has been created because the hike of import, production and transportation cost and the syndicators have taken advantage of the situation to enter the market. As a result, prices of rice, pulse, oil, sugar, onion, ginger, spices and vegetables are also increasing by leaps and bounds in the market.
People’s income didn’t increase compare to their expenditures. Especially, the low-income people have to spend their all income to buy food products.
They do not have money to spend on health, treatment, education and even they are taking food less to cope with cost pressures.
