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Saturday | September 19, 2026 | Dhaka

Mastercard forecasts 7.3pc inflation in Bangladesh in 2024

 New Nation
 Published: 12:00 AM, 13 December 2023

Business Desk :
Mastercard Economics Institute (MEI) forecasts the consumer price inflation in Bangladesh to come down to 7.3% in 2024, while the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reported it to have been at 9.49% in November.

The global economic research arm of Mastercard also sounds optimistic about the Bangladesh GDP growth in the coming year as it forecasts the country’s real GDP growth to be at 6.3%, near to that by the government and the Asian Development Bank, while the World Bank feared Bangladesh GDP growth to be slowed down to 5.6% next year.

The MEI expects a partial normalisation of the monetary policies by the world’s central banks in 2024 as the inflation expectation in economies is calming down while economic growth may be subdued a bit.

“Globally, 2024 should be marked by easing inflation pressures,” said MEI in its ‘Economic Outlook 2024: Striking a balance between prices and priorities’ report released on 11 December.

Global inflation will come down to 4.9% in 2024, from 6% this year and way above the pre-pandemic level of 2.7%, expects the MEI.

“Central banks are likely at or close to peak rates,” the MEI said as it expects some monetary easing in 2024 when inflation cools and growth remains subdued.

Removing inflation, the global real GDP growth in 2024 is likely to feel like that of 2023 as the MEI expects it to inch down to 2.9% from 3% this year.

“Consumers should continue to spend, owing to the strength in the labour market. With price inflation cooling more than wage inflation, purchasing power should increase,” Mastercard added.

Bangladesh’s headline inflation fell to a seven-month low of 9.49% in November, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

This marked a notable decline from October’s 9.93%.

The previous low of 9.24% was recorded in April before a surge to 9.94% in May.

In a year-on-year comparison, the headline inflation rate in November 2022 was 8.85%.

According to BBS data, both food and non-food inflation declined in November.

Food inflation eased to 10.76% in November from 12.56% in the previous month.

Food inflation was 8.14% in November last year.