Food inflation eases, costs rise
The overall inflation eased slightly to 8.26 per cent in August, but the marginal decline offered little relief to ordinary consumers as food and overall prices continued to rise on a month-on-month basis.
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed that point-to-point inflation fell by 0.06 percentage points from 8.32 per cent in July.
However, the overall CPI rose by 2.31 per cent in August from the previous month, while the food price index increased by 3.86 per cent, indicating that consumers continued to face higher prices in the market.
The figures were released on Monday in the latest BBS CPI report.
Compared with August 2025, when inflation stood at 8.29 per cent, the latest rate was 0.03 percentage points lower.
According to BBS data, the main factor behind the decline was a slowdown in food inflation, which fell to 7.02 per cent in August from 7.16 per cent in July.
However, non-food inflation increased slightly to 9.32 per cent from 9.28 per cent over the same period.
The decline in food inflation does not mean that food became cheaper. Rather, food prices increased at a slower rate than they did a year earlier, resulting in lower point-to-point inflation.
Nationally, food inflation declined by nearly 0.6 percentage points year-on-year, from 7.6 per cent in August last year to 7.02 per cent this August.
Food inflation eased in both rural and urban areas. In rural areas, it fell to 7.01 per cent in August from 7.14 per cent in July, while in urban areas it declined to 7.04 per cent from 7.21 per cent.
Non-food items, meanwhile, continued to exert considerable pressure on household budgets. National non-food inflation rose to 9.32 per cent in August from 9.28 per cent in July.
Inflation in several major sectors remained close to or above 9 per cent. Restaurant and hotel prices recorded the highest increase, with inflation in the sector reaching 12.49 per cent in August.
Inflation stood at 9.94 per cent for clothing and footwear; 9.44 per cent for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; and 9.41 per cent for transport.
Health-sector inflation, however, declined to 3.48 per cent.
The latest data suggest that the slight easing in headline inflation was primarily driven by slower food-price increases, while non-food price pressures remained elevated.
At the same time, the month-on-month increase in both the food and overall price indexes highlights the continuing pressure on consumers.
A lower inflation rate indicates that prices are rising more slowly; it does not mean that the prices of goods and services have fallen.
The longer-term trend also shows some easing in inflationary pressure. BBS calculated the 12-month moving average inflation at 9.58 per cent for September 2024-August 2025. This declined to 8.66 per cent for September 2025-August 2026.
Despite the gradual improvement, inflation remains high, particularly for non-food goods and services.
With non-food inflation at 9.32 per cent and food prices rising 3.86 per cent month-on-month in August, household purchasing power remains under pressure.
The sustainability of the downward trend will therefore depend largely on food supplies and prices, as well as the movement of prices for non-food goods and services in the coming months.
The BBS CPI uses FY2022 as its base year. The national index covers 749 varieties of 383 goods and services across rural and urban markets, with prices collected regularly from 154 key markets nationwide.
