The rate of inflation in the country as per the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell slightly to 7.44 per cent in February last from 7.50 per cent the month before.
The inflation cooled last month for the first time since November, 2013, although the food prices picked up, said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Thursday.
The food inflation, measured on the point-to-point basis by taking 2005-06 as the base year, accelerated last month by 0.03 percentage point to 8.84 per cent from that in January last.
The food inflation increased both in rural and urban areas during the month with the non-food inflation dropping in both areas, according to the official statistics.
The urban food inflation stood at 9.84 per cent in February last against 9.80 per cent in January while the rural food inflation rose to 8.42 per cent last month from 8.39 per cent in the previous month.
Despite the drop, the inflation rate still remained well above the government's target of 7.0 per cent on an average.
Economic analysts said the supply chain improvement contributed to the fall in inflation. However, they did caution that the inflation, especially the non-food one, might rise again, once the power tariff was raised sharply.
They said the food inflation remained high in February last as the rice prices increased by nearly 30 per cent in the month against that of the corresponding period in 2013. The food inflation is highly sensitive to the prices of rice as its weight on the CPI scale is high.
The non-food inflation, which includes house rent and transportation, fell to 5.37 per cent from 5.53 per cent at the national level.
BBS Director General Golam Mustafa Kamal said the government's target of 7.0 per cent might be achieved as the supply chain had been improving since January last.
"Government's target is not the monthly target, rather the yearly average target. So, if the inflation keeps falling in the months ahead, the average inflation may be around 7.0 per cent," the BBS chief noted.
Mr Zaid Bakht, director (research) at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), told the FE that the supply chain improvement helped cool the inflation rate last month.
He cautioned: "Rise in power tariff will affect the falling trend and the inflation will again edge up in the months ahead, as an increase in power tariff helps push up the production costs."
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) already held the public hearing on power tariff hike proposed by the power distribution entities and made its recommendations.
Restive politics during November and December last caused severe disruptions in the supply chain, pushing up the food inflation rate, especially in urban areas, to nearly 10 per cent.