Food inflation has registered a sudden hike as the ongoing political unrest in the country fuelled up the price indices through supply-chain cut, according to latest official findings.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, however, showed Tuesday that the overall point-to-point inflation rate last month fell further to 6.04 per cent, despite the rise in inflation on food account.
According to the national statistical body, BBS, the rate of food inflation increased 0.21 percentage points to 6.07 per cent in January of the current Financial Year (FY) 2014-15 from 5.86 per cent in the previous month, December.
The non-food inflation-expansion rate, however, was recorded lower in the last month to 6.01 per cent compared to 6.48 per cent recorded in the previous month.
The inflation rate in January was 0.07 percentage points higher than the rate in December (6.11 per cent) and 1.46 percentage points up from the rate of the corresponding period of last FY2014 (7.50 per cent), as per the BBS data, unveiled by Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.
Mr Kamal said, "Since the food-supply chain during the countrywide blockade had been disrupted, the consumer price index (CPI) on the food basket rose in January."
On the other hand, petroleum-price slump on the world market cooled down the non-food price index last month, he told journalists in reply to a question regarding the ups and downs.
Professor Shamsul Alam, the chief of the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission, told the FE that the food inflation had increased slightly due to supply-chain disruption for the ongoing political unrest in the country.
"The slightly higher CPI of the food basket in a single month is not a matter of concern for an economy. If it fluctuates at least within a rate of 1.0 percentage points, then it is a matter of concern," said Prof Alam.
According to the BBS data, the point-to-point inflation started falling in July this FY2014-15 (7.05 per cent) as the CPI has been on a downturn.
The general Consumer Price Index (CPI) on the point-to-point basis in January increased to 210.12 from 207.78 in the previous month of December, the BBS data showed.
The BBS authorities say the point-to-point inflation in the rural areas had also fallen in the last month--to 5.19 per cent from 5.89 per cent in December.
In the urban areas, the inflationary trend in January dropped slightly to 6.48 per cent from 6.50 per cent in December this FY2015.
The planning minister said they were hopeful about keeping the average inflation within the targeted 6.5 per cent limit in the current FY.
In the current fiscal, the government has targeted to check the inflation within a limit of 6.0 to 6.5 per cent. Bangladesh was hard hit by the inflationary pressure in 2010-11 period when the point-to-point inflation crossed double-digit mark from a cool 7.54 per cent in November 2010, BBS officials said.
Later, the point-to-point inflation was recorded lowest in September 2012 over the last three years -- 4.97 per cent - in a fall from the peak in the FY2010-11. Planning Minister Mustafa Kamal also unveiled the point-to-point wage-index rate of the last month on Tuesday.
Quoting the BBS data he said the wage growth in Bangladesh in January had expanded at 9.27 per cent. In the same month last FY2014 the wage rate was boosted 10.02 per cent.
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