Crowds of people on low incomes scramble as they queue up in front of a TCB truck to buy relatively low-cost commodities. The photo was taken in the capital's Shantinagar area on Thursday. — FE Photo by Shafiqul Alam 
Over-all inflation heated up to 10.87 per cent in October with people in rural Bangladesh hit hard as the consumer price index (CPI) rose faster there by official count.
The revelation made Thursday prompted the interim government's finance and banking authorities to chart out latest interventional actions, including fiscal measures, to come to grips with the market waywardness.
Inflation on account of food, on a point-to-point basis, rose at a much higher rate at the national level to 12.66 per cent on the back of food-price rises. It went up by 2.26 percentage points within a month, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data released Thursday.
After the record-highest rate of inflation in July this year, there were signs of downturn in the CPI mercury during the subsequent two months before a jump again in October.
In September, inflation lost some steam to cool a bit to 9.92 per cent from a higher trajectory of 10.49 per cent in August and 11.66 per cent in July, the month of red-hot student protests that led to fall of the past government on August 5.
According to BBS, people in the villages are the worst victim of the recent CPI overheating as the rate of inflation in rural Bangladesh is recoded at 11.26 per cent, 0.39-percentage-point higher than the national-level rate of 10.87 per cent.
Analysts say the recent floods in the country's northeastern and northwestern regions had impacted food prices that resulted in a higher inflation in the past month October.
They note that since this interim government is trying to ensure quality data production without any intervention, the inflation rate is showing an upturn.
Meanwhile, the inflation rate on point-to-point basis in the same period, October 2023, was recorded 9.93 per cent.
According to the BBS, the food inflation on point-to-point basis at the national level climbed to 12.66 per cent in the last month from 10.40 per cent in September.
On the other hand, non-food inflation dropped by 0.16-percentage points to 9.34 per cent last month from 9.50 per cent in September and 9.74 per cent in the previous month of August, BBS data showed.
In October, the point-to-point inflation rate increased to 11.26 per cent in the rural areas from 10.15 per cent in September and 10.95 per cent in August.
The food-inflation rate in villages was recorded 12.75 per cent in October in a sharp rise from 10.38 per cent in the previous month of September.
However, the non-food inflation in rural areas declined to 9.76 per cent last month from 9.91 per cent in September.
In the urban areas, the October rate of inflation was recorded 10.44 per cent, 0.59- percentage-point lower than the previous month, according to the BBS count.
The food inflation in the urban areas was recorded 10.44 per cent in the last month in a rise from 9.83 per cent in September.
The non-food inflation decreased to 9.06 per cent in the last month from 9.38 per cent in September in the towns, the BBS data showed.
Meanwhile, the 12-month average inflation rate between November 2023 and October 2024 was recorded at 10.05 per cent.
The statistical bureau also released the Wage Rate Index (WRI) along with the inflation measurers, showing that wages in Bangladesh increased at a rate of 8.07 per cent in last month of October from 8.01 per cent in September.
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