Food inflation surges to 12.54pc in August

Staff Reporter :
Food inflation in Bangladesh surged to 12.54 per cent in August, which was 9.76 per cent in the previous month, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) published yesterday.

The Average inflation also increased by 23 basis points to 9.92 per cent in August, inching close to a decade-high of 9.94 percent which was registered in May.

Non-food inflation, on the other hand, dipped to 7.95 per cent in August, down from 9.47 per cent in July.

Non-food inflation remained above 9 per cent since September and almost touched a double-digit at least, a trend never seen so high in Bangladesh’s history.

Falling back to below 8 per cent has brought some reprieve.

However, the wage growth in August remained below the inflation, clocking in at 7.58 per cent, which is 0.06 percentage point higher than last month.

Meanwhile, The UN food Agency’s world price index fell in August to a new two-year low, reversing a rebound seen the previous month, as a decline in most food commodities offset increases for rice and sugar.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 121.4 points in August against a revised 124.0 for the previous month, the agency said on Friday.

The August reading was the lowest since March 2021 and also 24 per cent below an all-time high reached in March 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

With no reflection of it in Bangladesh, the situation
exacerbated as the government’s food assistance for the poor and low-income people declined amid the current economic crisis, soaring inflation, and the rising cost of living.

Supply-side disruptions, specifically the higher cost of production, have been identified as the primary drivers of inflationary pressure, experts expressed.