Consumer inflation rose slightly to 7.48 per cent in March, on the back of higher rate of food inflation, according to official statistics released Sunday.
The rate of inflation measured on the consumer price index (CPI) surged by 0.04 percentage point last month (March) over its previous month.
The point-to-point food inflation stood at 8.96 per cent in March, which was 8.84 per cent in February.
The food inflation in the urban areas remained as high as 9.98 per cent in March, while it was 8.53 per cent in the rural areas.
However, the point-to-point non-food inflation dropped to 5.26 per cent in March, which was 5.37 per cent in February, according to the statistics.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) published the inflation data using 2005-06 as the base year from August last year.
Economic analysts said this rise in inflation, reflecting a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money, is due to hike in wage and rise in rice prices. They said food prices have increased due to wage hike.
Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI), said this rise in inflation is due to hike in wages. Any wage hike raises inflation rate, he mentioned.
Dr. Zahid Hussain, lead economist at World Bank Dhaka office, told the FE that the rise in inflation is driven by rice prices. The rice prices remained stubbornly high since January.
Weight of rice constitutes the largest portion of the CPI food scale. Any change in rice price is reflected in inflation rate.
Mr. Hussain said the non-food inflation decreased due to rather low demand for goods in the economy.
"The restrained monetary policy is helping to cut the non-food inflation," he added.
The monthly inflation rate remained well above the government average yearly target of 7.0 per cent. But BBS hopes the average inflation will come down by the end of this fiscal year (2013-14).
Up to March, the nine-month average inflation stood at 7.55 per cent against the government target of 7.0 per cent, said BBS officials.
BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kamal said: "We expect that the average inflation will remain more or less near the government target."
He, however, said the food inflation surged in March, as many traders were charging higher prices on the ground of their loss during political crisis in November-December.
"In my mind, they were charging higher prices to compensate the financial loss incurred during the political turmoil."
The BBS chief said food inflation soared due to rise in prices of rice, lentil, flour, vegetables, fruits, spices, oil and milk.
Consumer inflation up slightly in Mar
Jasim Uddin Haroon | Published: April 07, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
Share if you like