People pay through their nose as the persistent Gulf turmoil impacts Bangladesh's consumer-price indices with overall inflation having hit a near-double-digit high at 9.04 per cent in latest official count.
Official data released Wednesday for the past month shows the most significant pressure comes from transport sub-sector, where inflation jumped to 9.31 per cent in April in a sharp rise from the 7.47-percent rate recorded in March.
This 1.84-percentage-point surge in the major livelihood parameter is largely fuelled by higher costs for imported fuels amid the Mideast mayhem, as evident from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) statistics.
The government last month increased prices of all types of fuel oils and gas for the domestic market, which heated up the inflation, analysts say.
Meanwhile, the overall inflation rate in April increased by 0.33-percentage points to 9.04 per cent from 8.71 per cent in March this year, the official data show.
In the same period last year (April 2025), the inflation rate was reported 9.17 per cent, before a little downturn.
Since the consumer price index (CPI) in transportation sub-sector has risen significantly, the rate of inflation in the non-food sector climbed to 9.57 per cent in April from 9.09 per cent in March.
On the other hand, the inflation on food account also increased slightly to 8.39 per cent last month from 8.24 per cent in the previous month of March, according to the BBS data.
Inflation rates both in rural and urban areas marked rise in the past month of April.
In villages, the rate increased by 0.33-percentage points to 9.05 per cent in April from 8.72 per cent in March.
In the urban areas also the rate increased by 0.34-percentage points to 9.02 per cent last month from 8.68 per cent recorded in March.
Despite the monthly point-to-point increase, the 12-month moving average inflation showed a slight downtrend, settling at 8.59 per cent for the period of May 2025 to April 2026, compared to 10.21 per cent for the same period a year earlier.
This suggests that while recent shocks are pushing prices up, the long-term average has been cooling compared to the previous year.
The latest data from the BBS reveal a widening gap between the cost of living and worker earnings.
The national inflation of 9.04 per cent in April outweighs Wage Rate Index (WRI) growth at 8.16 per cent. This suggests that, on average, the purchasing power of low-paid skilled and unskilled labourers is being eroded as price increases (especially in transport and non-food items) are outstripping wage hikes.
Meanwhile, the WRI marked a rise to 8.16 per cent in the past month from 8.09 per cent in March, the data show.
The BBS breakdown shows wage growth varies significantly across different sectors of the economy. The highest wage growth was recorded at 8.31 per cent in the services sector among the three broad heads.
Despite being the strongest performer (services), it still falls nearly 1.0-percentage-point short of the 9.31 per cent inflation seen in the transport sector that many service workers rely on.
The wages grew by 8.19 per cent in agriculture sector in April, up slightly from 8.11 per cent in March.
In the industrial sector, the slowest growth was recorded at 8.09 per cent in April, making industrial workers among the most vulnerable to the recent spike in non-food inflation (9.57 per cent).
Wage growth also shows geographical disparities, with Dhaka Division reporting an increase of 8.64 per cent while Barishal lagging behind at 8.04 per cent.