The rate of inflation on a point-to-point basis maintained an upward trend during the last couple of months with a higher percentage posted in February.
In February, the rate of inflation rose to 5.47 per cent from 5.42 per cent in the previous month, shows the data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed on Tuesday.
According to the BBS, the inflation dropped to 5.35 per cent in December last year. But the curve headed upward subsequently from the first month of the current calendar year.
But in February last year, the rate of inflation on the point-to-point basis was recorded at 5.72 per cent.
After the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), Planning Minister MA Mannan said the inflation started rising due to the increase in prices of some food items in the local market.
The BBS in its findings said the prices of vegetables, egg and edible oil increased and those pushed up the inflation in the last month.
The upward trend of food inflation persisted in the last month and rose to 5.44 per cent from 5.33 per cent in the previous month.
The non-food inflation, however, remained subdued at 5.51 per cent in February compared to 5.57 per cent in January last.
When asked about the higher inflation, Planning Minister Mannan said since the income of the people had increased, their expenditure had also gone up.
That had an impact on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), he added.
The BBS data showed that the inflation increased in rural areas in the last month but dropped in urban areas.
In the rural areas, the point-to-point inflation rate hit 5.26 per cent in February compared to 5.14 per cent in January.
The food inflation in villages soared to 5.48 per cent in February from 5.14 per cent in January.
In the urban areas, the inflation on the point-to-point basis was slightly lower at 5.85 per cent in the last month compared to 5.93 per cent in the previous month.
On the other hand, the urban food inflation dropped to 5.38 per cent in February from 5.43 per cent in January.
The non-food inflation also dropped to 6.39 per cent in the last month from 6.50 per cent in the previous month.
The BBS also recorded the 12-month average inflation rate between March 2018 and February 2019 at 5.49 per cent.
The government has set a target for the current fiscal year (FY) 2019 to keep the inflation rate within the limit of 5.56 per cent.
The BBS also unveiled the wage rate index (WRI) on Tuesday.
It showed that the WRI increased to 6.48 per cent in February last from 6.21 per cent in the previous month.
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